he Dawn of a New 



FROCEEDJNGS OF" THE 



OOI-OVERfiHi 







Nc^r Orleans, La^ 

11 it, 1.3 i*.ncl 13, IB 17 




(lass 6^/' 

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I'kK.SKNTIOl) liY 



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"The Dawn o/a New 
Constructive Era" 



Being the Full and Complete 
Report of the 

Cut-Over Land Con- 
ference of the South 

Held Under the Auspices of the 
Southern Pine Association; 
Southern Settlement and Devel- 
opment Organization; New Or- 
leans Association of Commerce; 

In Co-operation with the 
United States Department of 
Agriculture; Department of the 
Interior; Southern State Agri- 
cultural Colleges and Experi- 
ment Stations. 



19 17 



S6o7 



Looking Ahead 

IN presenting this book to the pubhc th« pubhshers are inspired 
by a desire to make permanent record '-©f the fund of informa- 
tion embraced in the addresses of a number of prominent 
men who gathered in New Orleans April 11, 12 and 13, 1917, to 
participate in the "Cut-Over Land Conference of the South." 
This meeting was called for the purpose of discussing the ques- 
tion of best present and future beneficial use for stock raising, 
agriculture and reforestation to which there might be placed 
millions of acres now lying idle throughout a large part of the 
South, and was attended by many land owners, agricultural 
experts of the Federal and State governments, and others. 

It is also desired that the volume serve as the record of the 
first definite steps taken in a work which is expected to become 
the greatest constructive development movement ever under- 
taken in the United States. 

Lumber manufacturers, who own much of the tut-over lands, 
are looking forward to the day when their mill operations will be 
curtailed by the diminution of the virgin pine forests. Mean- 
while, they wish to take steps to convert into practical service 
for the benefit of themselves and the public the vast empire of 
territory now largely unproductive. The Southern Cut-Over 
Land Association is an organization which has grown out of 
the Cut-Over Land Conference, held under the. joint auspices 
of the Southern Pine Association and Association of Commerce 
of New Orleans and the Southern Settlement and Development 
Organization, of Baltimore, Md.. and has now actively entered 
on the task of consummating this great undertaking. 

SOUTHERN CUT-OVER LAND ASSOCIATION, 



SQi 2j m 



J 



Table of Contents 

Section I— Proceedings of Wednesday, April 11, 1917. 
Morning Session — Mr. M. L. Alexander Presiding Page 

"A Foreword" '' 

By Mr. J. Lewis Thompson, Chairman, Cut-Over Land 
Committee, Southern Pine Association 

"Why We Have Met" 8-10 

Address by Mr. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Louisiana 
State Conservation Commission 

"Address of Welcome" 10-1 1 

By Hon. Martin Behrman, Mayor of New Orleans 

"Importance of Agricultural Development to the Cities" 12-15 

Address by Mr. Ernest Lee Jahncke, President of the 
New Orleans Association of Commerce 

"Practical Reforestatioii" 15-23 

Paper prepared by Mr. Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester, 

United States' Forest Service, and read by Mr. E. 

S. Bryant of the United States Forest 

Service, representing Mr. Graves 

"Practical Utilization of Cut-Over Lands" 24-28 

Address by Mr. Stanley F. Morse, Agricultural Expert, 
formerly of the University of Arizona 

Afternoon Session — Mr. M. L. Alexander Presiding 

"Agriculture From A National Standpoint" 29-36 

Address by Honorable Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary 

of Agriculture, United States Department of 

Agriculture 

"The Cut-Over Land Owner's Responsibility — His 

Opportunity" 36-46 

Address by Hon. H. Clay Tallman, Commissioner, General 

Land Office, United States Department of 

the Interior 

"Lumbermen's Activities, Past, Present and Future" 46-50 

Address by Mr. J. Lewis Thompson 

"The Railroad's Part in the South's Development" 50-54 

Address by 'Mr. J. C. Clair, Industrial Commissioner of 
the Ilhnois Central Railroad 

Section II — Proceedings of Thursday, April 12, 1917. 
Morning Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding 

"The Practical Aspects of the Problem" 55-58 

Address by Mr. Clement S. Ucker, Vice-President Southern 
Settlement and Development Organization 

"Natural Resources of the South — Arkansas as a Developing 

Factor" 58-67 

Address by Hon. Charles H. Brough, Governor of 
Arkansas 



Table of Contents — Continued Page 

"Soils of the Coastal Plain Area" 68-77 

Address by Mr. C. F. Marbut, Soil Expert, Bureau of 
Soils, United States Department of Agriculture 

"Some Factors to be Considered in the Drainage of the Cut- 
Over Lands of the South" 78-83 

Address by Mr. S. H. McCrary, Assistant Chief, Office 

of Public Roads and Rural Engineering, United 

States Department of Agriculture 

Afternoon Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding 

"Some Problems of Cut-Over Land Development" 84-86 

Address by Mr. Harry D. Wilson, Commissioner of 
Agriculture of the State of Louisiana 

"Forage Problem of the Coastal Plain Area" 86-93 

Address by Dr. C. V. Piper, Chief Agrostologist, Bureau 

of Plant Industry, United States Department 

of Agriculture 

"Experiences in Cattle Raising on Cut-Over Lands" 93-96 

Address by Mr. F. R. Enochs, of Fernwood, Miss. 

"Soil Improvement Crops" 97-103 

Address by Mr. S. M. Tracy, Agronomist, Office of Forest 

Crop Investigation, United States Department 

of Agriculture 

"Need of Experiment Station Work on Cut-Over Lands". .103-106 

Address by Mr. W. R. D'odson, Director of the State 

College and Experiment Station of the State 

of Louisiana 

"Mississippi's Part in Cut-Over Land Development" 106-107 

Address by Dr. E. R. Lloyd, Director of Experiment 
Stations of the State of Mississippi 

"What Georgia is Doing to Encourage the Utilizing of Cut- 
Over Lands" 108-111 

Address by Mr. John R. Fain, Agronomist of the College 
of Agriculture of the State of Georgia 

"Beef Cattle and Hogs" 112-125 

Address by Mr. George M. Rommel, Chief, Animal Hus- 
bandry Division United States Department 
of Agriculture 

"A Survey of the Live Stock Situation" 125 141 

Address prepared by Dr. Andrew M. Soule, President of 
the College of Agriculture of the State of Georgia 

"The Animal Industry of the South — Past, Present and 

Future" 142-150 

Address by Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, Professor of Veterinary 
Science, Louisiana Agricultural College 

"The Railroads' Interest in Cut-Over Land Development". .151-155 

Address by Mr. D. C. Welty, Commissioner of Agriculture, 

St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway 

"What Florida is Doing in Land Development" 155-157 

Address by iMr. James F. Murphy, President of the Florida 
Land Development and Colonization Association 



Table of Contents — Concluded 

Section III — Proceedings of Friday, April 13, 1917. 

Morning Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding Page 
"Demonstration Work on Cnt-Over Lands" 157-168 

Address by Mr. G. E. Nesom, Superintendent of Live 

Stock Extension Work in Louisiana for the Lhiited 

States Department of Agriculture 

"How Louisiana is Solving the Reforestation Problem". . . .169-172 

Address by A'Ir. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Louisiana 
State Conservation Commission 

"Some Problems of Colonizing Cut-Over Lands" 172-173 

Address by Mr. H. Q. Weare, of Mobile, Ala. 

"The Dairy Industry of the South" 174-178 

Address by Mr. C. W. Radway, Dairy Specialist, Bureau of 

Animal Industry, United States Department 

of Agriculture 

"Some Suggestions for Dairying on Cut-Over Lands" 179-181 

Address by Mr. N. P. Hull, President of National 
Dairy Union 

"Tick Eradication" 182-187 

Address by Dr. E. L Smith, of the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture 

Afternoon Session — Mr. Clement S. Ucker Presiding 

"Stumps and Their Practical Removal" 188-195 

Address by Mr. Carl D. Livingston, University of 
Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 

"The Sheep Industry of the South" 196-201 

Address by Mr. F. R. ]\Iarshall, Senior Animal Husl)and- 

man, Bureau of Animal Industry, United States 

Department of Agriculture 

"Possibilities of Cut-Over Lands" 201-207 

Address by Mr. J. A. Evans, Assistant Chief, States Relation 
Service, United States Department of Agriculture 

"The Cut-Over Acre— What is It Worth?" 207-209 

Address by Mr. William R. Lighton, Fayetteville, Ark. 

"Shortage of Raw Materials — The Demand Increasing". .210-210 

Address by Mr. A. C. Bigelow, President, Philadelphia 
Wool and Textile Association 

"Forestry and Cattle Raising on the Cut-Over Pine Lands 

of the Southern States" 217-225 

Address by Major J. G. Lee, Department of Forestry and 
Horticulture, Louisiana State University 

"The Necessity for Organized Effort" 226-229 

Address by General L. C. Boyle, of Kansas City 

"Cut-Over Lands and Their Value" 230-231 

Address by Mr. C. C. Prescott, Agricultural Agent, 
Southern Railway System Development Service 

Resolutions ■ 22)2-22>h 

Senator Ransdell Sends Greetings , 236 

Registration List 237-244 



A Foreword 

By J. Lewis Thompson 

Chairman, Cut-Over Land Committee 

Southern Pine Association 

Gentlemen : — We are gathered together here this morning in 
a conference — our program states just what we are here for; and 
on account of my having, in an unguarded moment, accepted the 
chairmanship of this committee I happen to be before you just at Government 
this time. We had expected to have a large gathering, and to all of J^^^PW Inter- 
yon is due some explanation as to why we had so many changes „ t H 
in our date of meeting. The Department at Washington and the Development 
officials are very much interested in this meeting, and we were 
shifting about dates trying to arrive at a date at which they could 
attend, but, as we all know, the Germans interfered with their plans ; 
but we have finally gotten together here at this time. We are dis- 
appointed in not having Senator Ransdell here to preside for us 
this morning, but Mr. Alexander has kindly consented to preside, 
and I take pleasure in introducing Mr. Alexander to you. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Why We Have Met 

By M. L. Alexander 

Commissioner, Louisiana Department of 
Conservation 

Gentlemen : — I consider it an honor and a privilege to be called 
upon to preside at a gathering so important as this. I regret sin- 
cerely, however, to say that Mr. Ransdell, who was originally chosen 
to preside at this meeting, was unable to come owing to duties 
which he is called upon to perform at this time at Washington and 
which are possibly much more important than anything which could 
be taken up on the outside. 

Senator Ransdell has always expressed an active interest, not 
only in the things which concern the development of his own state, 
but which concern the development of the Southland or the devel- 
opment of the whole United States, and I regret exceedingly that 
he was not here to address you in person. 

This is an important meeting, gentlemen ; one that is of great 
significance — a meeting which we hope will mean something to you 
and the sections which you represent. This meeting is not called 
for the purpose of fostering any real estate interest or any specified 
real estate development, or for the aiding of any men or set of 
men, but it has been called by sound-thinking men for the purpose 
Vast Problem of bringing attention to these large areas of cut-over lands which 
Must Be exist in the lumber belts of the Southern States, areas of cut-over 

lands that now approximate something like 40 to 50 million acres 
in that territory. Therefore, we hope that in your deliberations 
here, in the papers that will be read before you, in the thoughts 
that will be expressed, will have your due, careful and earnest 
consideration, because there is a problem to be solved, a problem 
the solving of which will mean so much to the development of this 
section of the country. 

Now, gentlemen, I am called upon to act in a sort of dual 
capacity today — not only called upon to represent Mr. Ransdell as 
chairman of your meeting, but called upon to express the regret 
of the Governor of the State of Louisiana that he was not able to 
be present, being confined to a sick bed at the capital at Baton 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Governor 

Pleasant, 

Loiiisiand, 

Sends 

Greetings 



Rouge, and therefore I am going to claim the privilege of the chair- 
man and, without further ceremony, will introduce myself to you 
as the representative of the Honorable Rufifin G. Pleasant, Gov- 
ernor of the State of Louisiana. • (Applause.) 

Gentlemen, as the representative of the Governor of Louisiana 
I wish to say to you that the Governor regrets exceedingly that he 
was not able, owing to sickness, to be present here today and to 
welcome this distinguished body of men from these various sec- 
tions who have come together here to consider problems that mean 
so much to the State of Louisiana as well as to the other sections. 
The Governor appreciates fully the significance of this meeting. He 
recognizes that any plan or set of plans which can be brought about 
to further the development of these areas of cut-over lands that 
exist in the State of Louisiana, approximating something like five 
or five and a half million acres at the present time, will be of great 
good to this state and the people and that prosperity will follow 
in the wake of this development; and I want to say to you that it 
is a question of great importance. There is no more important 
question which can be taken up at this particular time, for now, 
at the time of the nation's crisis ; now, at the time when we are 
entering into the world war; now, at the time when we are going 
to require the efiforts of the sound-thinking men to bring about a 
further development along agricultural lines and along the line of 
raising foodstuffs generally, and also live stock, this is a live ques- 
tion and a question that concerns us all and we should give it serious 
deliberation. 

Louisiana has something like twenty-nine million acres of land 
and today there is less than five million acres of that land under 
cultivation. Louisiana has the greatest body of alluvial lands that 
exist in the world today, and still there are large tracts of this land 
which still remain uncultivated. Louisiana has vast prairies which 
future development would make ideal stock farms. Louisiana has 
had something like fourteen million acres of timber land, something developed 
like nine or ten million acres of pine land, and today there exists C^it-Over 
in the state over five million acres of cut-over pine land, and the 
problem is, what are we going to do with it and what are we going 
to make out of it? About 80 per cent of it, as we see it, would be 
susceptible for agricultural development. 

Louisiana has made a great deal of progress as to demonstrat- 
ing what can be done with this cut-over land. Situated in some 



Louisiana's 
5,000,000 
Acres of Un- 



Lfinds 



10 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

of the parishes of the state, the cut-over lands have become the 
most valuable lands we have in the state, because, after all, the 
value of land is based on what it produces in actual revenue. We 
have cut-over lands in Louisiana that, at a conservative estimate, 
are yielding in actual revenue per acre, per year, one thousand dol- 
lars. We have exceptional cases where this has gone as high as 
„. ,,. , , two thousand dollars, but the agriculturists tell us, by their experi- 

From Cut- ments and by the experiments of the Louisiana Department of 
Over Lands Agriculture, that these cut-over lands have an actual cash value for 
the production of hogs of at least $50 an acre. Therefore, it seems 
to me we would not be wasting time if we encourage the exploita- 
tion and development of these lands ; and I sincerely trust that the 
deliberations of this body of earnest, sound-thinking men, who 
have come here to consider this problem, will evolve some scheme 
and idea where those lands can be brought into early use ; and 
now, gentlemen, again, on behalf of the Governor of the state, I bid 
you a most hearty welcome to Louisiana. I thank you. (Applause.) 



Address of Welcome 

By Hon. Martin Behrman 

Mayor of New Orleans 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Conference: — I 
do appreciate the importance of this conference. For that reason 
I have canceled whatever engagements I may have had this morn- 
ing in order to be with you and personally extend to you a word 
of welcome for the people of the City of New Orleans. 

At this time, in this crisis, it is proper and meet that men like 
yourselves should come together for the purposes of doing some- 
thing to encourage the use of these wonderful lands of ours. You 
know and I know what the cut-over lands of the South in certain 
sections are producing, but the South will be called upon to do 
Diitijto the her share now and to do it promptly. We will be called upon to 
Mation raise the products to feed the Allies as well as ourselves. We will 

be called upon to furnish the rest of the country — who are not 
blessed as we are, with the splendid soil we have and the splendid 
opportunities we have here in the South— we will be compelled to 
furnish them with the food products they may need. So I say 
this is an important conference, one that I hope will bring about 



The Soiith's 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 11 



the best results. We have a wonderful soil, and we have a won- 
derful people, but we have been going along content just to let well 
enough alone. Everything came easy for us ; nature has been very 
kind to us ; anything we put in the ground would grow ; and nothing 
would better illustrate the feeling of being satisfied to let well 
enough alone than this : Some years ago, when a company of 
army engineers were locating the route of the Intercoastal Canal in 
our state — part of it was completed, but part of it had to be done 
with the aid of teams — they came to a beautiful section of our 
state and saw a big family sitting under a great big oak tree; that ^iist Get 

family had a splendid tract of land, but there was only a small j^Z^^jJ^^"^ 

. , . , 1 • • , • .1 ^ -J Old Ideas 

portion of it under cultivation; and someone in the party said, 

"Why don't you cultivate the rest of this land?" He replied, 
"What's the use? We have enough." That is the spirit we want 
to get away from, and now it is not only the spirit of doing things 
different from the way we used to do them, but the necessity that 
we must do it, we must use those lands, and we must put them 
to the uses for which they were intended. It is not only a ques- 
tion of whether we ought to do it or not ; it is a duty and it is 
compulsory. 

Speaking of the different arts, I read a few days ago that 
'way back in 1859, in a speech to the Agricultural Society of Wis- 
consin. Abraham Lincoln said : "The most valuable of all arts will 
be the art of deriving a comfortable subsistence from the smallest 
area of soil." 

We have the soil and the acreage and all the other things. 
God has blessed us with a splendid climate, and what we may lack 
in people we can get from immigration. I was one of those who 
never believed it was necessary to bring them all down into this 
section of the country. You have the people in this country ; they 
only have to be educated up to an appreciation of the value of those ^nmugration 
lands, and learn the possibilities of them and see the uses they can 
be put to ; and then the farmers from the great West and North- 
west can come down here and develop these lands with the energy 
they have shown in their own sections of the country ; and then I 
believe every section and all the lands of the state will be put to use. 

Now, my friends, I hope the deliberations of your conference 
will be entirely successful, and on behalf of the people I want to 
say it is their earnest desire that they will be, and they bid me say 
to you that you are most heartily welcome here. I thank you. 
(Applause.) 



12 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Importance of Agricultural 
Development to the Cities 

By Ernest Lee Jahncke 

President of the New Orleans Association 
of Commerce 

Gentlemen : — With the same earnestness evinced by our Hon- 
orable Mayor, I, also, as President of the New Orleans Associa- 
tion of Commerce, want to welcome you to this conference and to 
express pleasure at having you come to this city to hear the dis- 
cussions upon, and endeavor to solve problems so vital to the 
nation's welfare at this time. 

As the head of a civic body organized for the purpose of 
promoting the industrial and commercial welfare of New Orleans, 
I realize the importance which the work you gentlemen are under- 
taking has upon the development of this and other cities of the 
South. The head of the greatest statistical organization in the 
country recently said that in 1950 the largest city in the United 
States would be situated in the South and the chief reason upon 
Nation's which he based this prophecy was the potential resources in this 

(Treatest tii- ^^j-j-Jtory, which you are now endeavoring to uncover. To release 
Man Be in ^^^^^ dormant wealth for the public good will require a great deal 
South of work, not only on the part of the agricultural interests, but in 

co-operation with the Chambers of Commerce and Boards ot Trade, 
with the transportation lines, the bankers, the merchants, the trade 
organizations and the colleges and experiment stations. The growth 
and prosperity of all these factors are interdependent; the losses, 
sustained by one are shared directly or indirectly by the others, and 
the touch of Fortune is felt by all alike. 

If the farmers in a locality have had good crops and are able, 
with the co-operation of the financial and commercial agencies, to 
Co-operation "market same profitably the effect is felt all through the district. 
Necessary to If, through lack of practical aid being given to the rural communi- 
Siiccess ties, or in the absence of such communities there is no effort to 

develop them, the cities and towns in those sections cease to pro- 
gress, and if the proper steps are not taken, the retrograde move- 
ment begins. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 13 

The days when people have sufficient unto themselves are 
beginning to fade away, so much so that the whole world is look- 
ing to more centralized effort. Whole nations are no longer able 
to be entirely independent of others, and even now each continent 
needs the assistance of the rest of the world. 

We have been made to recognize in the past two years more 

than ever before the importance of agriculture to the prosperity of 

the nation. There is hardly a more important subject today than 

the national food supply, not only as a factor in our own national 

life, but in that of other nations. Without the farmer how long ,, ,. , „ , 

. . 1 • 1 1 1 -, T-1 • Nations Fate 

could the soldiers maintam themselves m the fields? There is one i^arggiy i^ 

little incident in history that impresses me in this connection, and Hands of 
that is the story oft told about Cincinnatus, the patriotic Roman, Farmer 
who left his plow standing and hastened at top speed to help the 
empire when news of war reached him. If Cincinnatus were a 
farmer in these times the thing which he would be most likely to 
do would not be to leave his plow, but he would be encouraged by 
his government to push the plow more vigorously and where pos- 
sible add another plow. 

The ruralist of today is not the farmer of the days gone by; 
he does not make his once a week trip to the nearest market to 
dispose of his product and then bury himself in his farm for the 
next six days. With the aid of the automobile, good roads and City and 
interurban lines, he is now very much a city folk ; he visits the ^'"'^^ Inter- 
city places of amusement, makes his purchases in person at the 
city stores and invests his money in municipal enterprises. Thus 
we see that the distinction between urban and rural welfare is 
being eHminated and that each must work for the benefit of the 
other. 

When commercial bodies commence to take notice of these 
things and desire to do what is necessary for proper development 
along these lines, they should make a careful study of the needs 
and possibilities in their localities, and if all such organizations in 
the South give attention to the problems presented and threshed 
out at this conference, I feel certain that great steps will be taken 
in that direction. 

In this connection, it might be advisable to give some statistics 
regarding the possibilities of the South, the surface of which has 
thus only been scratched. In 1900, in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, 
Louisiana and Mississippi there were over one hundred and sixty 



Now Devel 
oped 



14 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

million acres of land capable of being cultivated, and of which but 
24 per cent had been improved. Between 1900 and 1910 nearly 
six million acres more of improved farm lands were added, making 
27 per cent at the latter date. Comparing progress in these states 
with that in other states, and making due allowance for increased 
developments, it is probable that by 1930 at least eighteen million 
Only 27 Per- acres more of improved lands will be added to the farms in these 
cent of five states, or 38 per cent. This is not at all a rash prediction when 

South's^ Lands ^^g j^^j-g ^\-^^^ 34 pgj- ^gj^^ Qf ^^g g^j-ea of Wisconsin was improved 
farms in 1910, and 49 per cent in New York, notwithstanding the 
large mountainous area of the latter state. In the prairie states, 
Illinois has 78 per cent of improved area, and Iowa 83 per cent, 
which marks the maximum of present development. This will give 
an idea of what can be done in the South. Wisconsin, which I 
said has 34 per cent of improved farms in 1910, is the leading dairy 
state of the Union, yet experts say that the possibilities for profit- 
able dairying in the South are even greater than those in the North. 
To realize what the addition of eighteen million acres of im- 
proved farm lands would mean to industrial activity in the South 
we have but to refer to the building statistics. According to census 
reports, the average investment per acre for buildings in the five 
beforementioned states was $8.48. To preserve this average per 
acre for buildings, which, by the way, is almost $5.00 less than 
the average in Northern states, farm buildings to the amount of 
150 million dollars would be erected, and, using the same census 
reports, it is estimated that forty million dollars' worth of agricul- 
tural implements and machinery would be used. These figures are 
based upon the assumption that the same methods of farming would 
be maintained in the South, but if they were brought to the higher 
planes of the Northern farms these amounts would be greatly in- 
creased. 

The South's greatest resource today is her yellow pine forests. 
In the seven leading states producing this species of lumber, over 
one-quarter of a million people are employed in lumber industries, 
which means that over one million people are dependent upon this 
source for a livelihood. Hundreds of towns are built up and main- 
tained mainly because of the sawmill operations in those vicinities. 
Millions of acres of cut-over lands are left idle after the woodman 
has passed. These lands have been productive of wealth which has 
given work to so many people and if they are to be kept as a source 
of revenue, we must look to the co-operation of all agencies, gov- 
ernmental and private, to do so. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 15 

New Orleans is situated at the very door of this great industry 
and its effect upon the city's growth has been very marked. 

For years we have been benefited by the milHons invested in 
this work and the returns from the product. How are we going 
to preserve this activity so vital to the welfare of this city and to 
other Southern cities? The South has not yet reached that stag( 
of a manufacturing locality where capital and labor ending its use- 
fulness in one industry can be converted into another. We must 
endeavor to take care of this by utilizing the lands that have been 
cut over ; making it possible to create productive farms throughout 
the now' barren land. The problems solved at this conference and 
the work of any organization effected to carry them out are the 
greatest steps taken to this end and should receive the support of 
all commercial organizations. 



Practical Reforestation 

Paper prepared by Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester, 

U. S. Forest Service, and read by E. S. 

Bryant of the U. S. Forest Service, 

representing Mr. Graves 

The undertaking: which vou have called this meeting- to con- 'JnaertakinQ 
... , T , • 1 ,■ • • 1 Worthy of 

sider IS one of very far reachmg public importance ; it commands ^^{f^g Public 

the interest of the whole public and should have its active sup- Support 
port. The movement you have initiated is peculiarly significant 
of a new spirit in the country and it points in the direction of a 
virtual reconstitution of the industrial organization of the country. 
Our history' has been largely that of opening up and ex- 
ploiting virgin resources. In a considerable part of the country 
our industries might be likened to placer-mining that gathers by- 
rough and ready methods the gold accumulated in the surface 
wash. In many respects we are only beginning" to emerge from 
conditions of primitive development, so far as both industrial and 
political organization is concerned. 

Politically we are still a nation of small political units, each 
preoccupied with its individual problems and each working in 
large part independently of and often in competition with its 



16 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Correlated 

Efforts 

Needed 



War Crisis 
Emphasizes 
Need of 
Nation for 
Common Ef- 
fort 



neighbor. In public works, as, for example, road building and 
flood control, uncorrelated effort between counties and towns re- 
sults in failure or in achievement by a very costly route. There 
is often lack of sympathy and confidence between county and 
state, or state and federal government, and lack of mutual con- 
fidence between counties and between states. So that when the 
larger unit of government is appealed to for aid in inter-county 
or inter-state undertakings, localism manifests itself in demands 
for the lion's share of common funds. 

We are only just beginning to feel an economic pressure re- 
quiring harmony of purpose and unity of effort in internal af- 
fairs ; and we are facing in the present international crisis the 
consciousness of national weakness because of the lack of cor- 
relation between our many separate political units. We are also 
just beginning to appreciate that there is a lack of industrial or- 
ganization of the country, that public interests and industry have 
a vital relationship, that the industries of one locality are of im- 
portance to other localities and to the people as a whole. 

The very wealth of readily available resources has made it 
possible for individual undertakings to succeed and localities to 
prosper. When the cream has been skimmed off, communities 
discover that they have not been building permanently. The 
larger public learns that sources of supply are exhausted, and dis- 
tress is caused by inability to obtain new supplies readily and at 
reasonable cost. And when there is an unusual stress, such as 
the present, the nation having the greatest resources of all na- 
tions sees local shortages of a great variety of products such as 
coal, timber, steel and foodstuffs. 

The consequences of the local exhaustion of virgin resources 
are very serious unless there is a replacement by a productive 
use of the land. In many sections the first industry is lumber- 
ing. If the land is rich and tillable agriculture follows with its 
farm homes, communities, cities and related manufacturing. 

In the South you are now facing the problem of progressive- 
ly diminishing virgin resources, and what you are going to do to 
sustain and build up local industry. Lumbering has been your 
berinq ^hat? foremost industry. Today the South leads in lumber production. 
In 1880 the South produced about 12 per cent of the nation's 
lumber cut ; in 1914 the proportion of lumber from the South 
was nearly 50 per cent. All know that the virgin supplies are 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



17 



being rapidly depleted and will be largely cut out in a couple of 
decades. 

We have seen the Lake States leading the country in lum- 
ber production twenty-five years ago, and now yielding only 
about 10 per cent of the nation's requirements. What is replac- 
ing these industries? In some places agriculture, but over many 
millions of acres nothing — a vast wilderness, fire swept and bar- 
ren of useful products, here and there a trace of a former saw- 
mill town, old farms deserted because the local industry with 
its markets is gone, roads almost impassable because the taxable 
resources that would keep them up has been destroyed, a virtual 
depopulation of hundreds of square miles. 

Today the great paper mills of the Lake States with millions 
invested in equipment and water power are embarrassed to se- 
cure supplies of wood, and they face the necessity to import 
wood from a great distance or to abandon their plants. Inquiries 
have already been made whether material could be secured from 
the National Forests of the Rocky Mountains to supply paper 
mills in Wisconsin ; and it has always been hard for me to recon- 
cile myself to the importation of wood pulp from Scandinavia to 
points 1,000 miles in our interior. 

For many years the United States has occupied a command- 
ing position in the production of naval stores. I believe that we 
have been producing about 80 per cent of the world's supply. 
This country has the best source of supply of the world in re- 
spect to species of trees, climate and accessibility — conditions 
unexcelled anywhere. Yet we are rapidly dissipating this re- 
source, and if we keep on, not only the South, but the country, 
will lose its place as an important producer of naval stores. We 
know that we can get turpentine from Western pine, and can by 
distillation obtain it from Douglas fir and other species, but pos- 
sibly with less yield and greater cost. The Southeast with its 
long leaf and slash pine is the logical place for turpentine pro- 
duction. It is important both to the locality and to the nation to 
have this thirty-five million dollar industry continued. Is it 
necessary for the South to lose its place in turpentine production 
or in lumber production? If they were tO' be replaced by agri- 
culture, production of cotton, corn and other farm products, and 
the land now producing trees were turned into productive fields, 
I should say that there would be no less, but perhaps a gain. 



Lake States 
Much of 
Forest Area 
Left Barren 
and Unpopu- 
lated 



Naval Stores 
Industry En- 
dangered 



18 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



If A Per- 
manent Lum- 
ber Supply 
May Be 
Assured 



Slow Devel- 
opment of 
Cut-Over 
Lands 



Fires and 
Hogs Retard 
Reforestation 



But that is not the case. There is an opportunity for an agri- 
cultural development of gigantic proportions, and at the same 
time a permanent turpentine and lumber industry. Millions of 
acres of land in the South are unsuited to crop growing, but 
capable of producing trees of exceptionally rapid growth. Shall 
we sacrifice tree production on the whole because a part of the 
land is better suited for crops? Is it not possible to carry on 
both industries side by side with the land devoted to the pur- 
pose for which it naturally is best suited? 

Pennsylvania is sometimes held up as an example of a state 
that originally was a prominent lumber producing center, and 
in which that industry is now replaced by manufacturing, agri- 
culture and mining that makes it one of our richest common- 
wealths. It is true that in the broad valleys fields have replaced 
the forest. It is true that mining and manufacturing places 
the state in the front ranks of wealth. But it is also true that 
over great portions of the state the forest has been replaced by 
a waste of scrub oak and sweet fern, with a scanty population 
struggling against the most adverse conditions to hold their 
own. Today the state is trying to reclaim its mountain wastes 
in order to restore the logical resource of much of the region, 
the forest, and lay the foundation for future productiveness and 
industry where the land today is a burden on the public. 

What is happening now in the South? Are the logged off 
lands being settled up, and is lumbering being replaced by agri- 
culture? In general the extension of agriculture over logged off 
pine lands is exceedingly slow. It is doubtful whether at the 
present time the movement much more than offsets the aban- 
donment of cleared lands. We know, for example, that Ijetween 
1900 and 1910 there was an actual decrease in improved lands in 
over 25 per cent of the counties of the pine region. I presume 
that it is safe to say that the demand for logged off land for agri- 
culture does not exceed 10 per cent of the area cut over each 
year. 

To a limited extent logged off lands are grazed and in places 
there is some forest growth coming back. Most timber land 
owners take the position that forestry is not practical for them, 
so that fires continue to run over the lands, preventing in large 
measure a regrowth of trees. In some sections also unregulated 
running of hogs on the range effectively checks the reproduc- 
tion of long leaf pine. Tree growth is accidental and such as oc- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 19 

curs is in spite of the forest fires and other adverse agencies. 
In short, the present resource is not being replaced by any other 
that will equal it in value. The state is therefore suffering a net 
loss every year. 

The question then arises whether the failure to settle up 
the logged off lands is a temporary condition, and whether with 
organized effort settlers cannot be induced to take up the lands 
much more rapidly in the near future. 

The fact that the lands are level or moderately rolling, that 
an analysis of the soil shows some crop raising possibilities, and 
that the climate is favorable, has misled many persons regard- 
ing the immediate development of these regions. While there 
is a great deal of land of good quality, we must also recognize 
the fact that there are in the aggregate immense areas that are ^^"<^^ of the 
too poor ever to be used permanently for crop raising and other , "" osing 
areas which can be made productive only by abundant fertilizers 
and rather intensive methods of farming and which probably will 
not be profitable to cultivate for a long time. Repeated ground 
fires are making these lands even poorer, both for possible culti- 
vation and for grazing. 

The problem in this region is not only to get the real agri- 
cultural lands settled up, but to secure the productive use of the * 
balance. The combined use of the lands not of immediate agri- 
cultural use for grazing and forestr}^ is, in my opinion, the an- 
swer to the question. 

It happens that in the Gulf States you have conditions for 
forest production equaled only in portions of the north Pacific 
region. Your pines grow with very astonishing rapidity, so that 
in considering returns it is not necessary to think in terms of a 
century or more, as in certain mountain regions. 

Within the regions suited to the growth of slash and long 
leaf pine we have the possibility of producing turpentine on a 
very practical basis. Studies by the Forest Service indicate that 
slash pine in natural stands can be used for turpentine in twenty Ten Per Cent 
to thirty years, and is capable of yielding as much as 500 cups per Profit Pos- 
acre. These young stands are boxed now, but so severely treated ^'^f^. '" 
that they are destroyed in three or four years. Under the French J^^^tine Trees 
method the trees could be worked for from twenty-five to fifty 
years. In much of the South the long leaf pine could not be 
worked for turpentine quite as early, but in each case the pro- 



20 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

duction age could be considerably reduced by thinnings such as 
are made in the Maritime Pine forests of southern France. Here, 
then, we have a possibility of raising trees for turpentine on a 
very profitable basis with the naval stores the chief product and 
the wood a by-product. Estimates by the Forest Service show 
the possibility of a 10 per cent investment, based on $5.00 land. 
This is pretty good for land that is not suited, at the present 
time, for agriculture. 

In the matter of timber production the South is in an ex- 
ceptionally favorable position. Examples may be multiplied 
which demonstrate that young long leaf pine stands are growing 
at the rate of from 600 to 800 board feet per acre per annum, 
and, where properly thinned, would yield more. Loblolly Pine 
under reasonably favorable conditions grows with equal rapidity. 
Such growth, of course, occurs only where there is a reasonably 
good stand of trees. 

From the standpoint of the public, production of even 200 
feet per acre per annum would be of great value. It would 
mean a growth over the whole region of over twelve to fifteen 
billion feet, enough to sustain the turpentine industry and a 
lumber industry of large proportions in the aggregate for many 
years. I believe that it is entirely possible to secure this growth, 
by organized fire protection and by the systematic use of the 
pine lands for grazing, agriculture and forestry. 

One of the things that has been demonstrated by the admin- 
istration of the National Forests has been the practicability of 
producing timber and live stock on the same lands. In the 
West as in the South the forests are chiefly coniferous. For- 
Growing Tim- merly these lands were over-grazed and as a result were steadily 

ber and Live deteriorating in productiveness of forage, and the forest growth 

Stock on the .... , „, , , i . j 

,j r w ^^s progressively mjured. Ihe system of regulated grazmg 

now in effect has largely restored the forest range, stopped 
erosion and safeguarded forest production. The same can be 
done in the South. Unless I am misinformed, the constant abuse 
of the Southern lands by fire is steadily lowering their value for 
grazing and for possible later agriculture. Control of fire and 
regulated grazing would make these lands more productive. 

Still another result in the National Forests has been the de- 
velopment of scattered agricultural lands directly due to the 
public forestry enterprise. The activities connected with the 
forests, and the stability of grazing on the) public forests, are 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 21 

bringing- in settlers to occupy lands that could not be developed 
if these other resources were not being built up at the same 
time. It would, I believe, work in the same way in the South. 
Every active step in the way of using the non-agricultural lands 
for grazing and forestry stimulates the use of agricultural lands Qpf^ring (,nd 
and building up of communities. The National Forests are forestry ■ 
carrying over ten million head of live stock and growing trees Stimulate 
at the same time; and the lands suited to farming are being oc- Agriculture 
cupied by actual settlers, most of whom would not have an out- 
look for permanence if the old system of forest fires, of ex- 
ploitation of timber with no regard for restocking, and of unreg- 
ulated over-grazing of the mountain slopes prevailed. 

Granted the truth of these contentions, how can the results 
be attained in the South? Unquestionably it will be possible to 
get private capital interested in handling lands for turpentine 
production. The profits are certain and the period before actual 
returns reasonable. But the average timber land owner balks at 
even a forty-year proposition of tree growing. So far the so- 
called conservation programs of the lumbermen of this region Forestry Not 
have wholly left out the continuance of the forest by regrowth. Impractical 
Thus the proposal recently made through the National Chambe'" 
of Commerce to urge Congress to permit agreements in restraint 
of trade where this would promote conservation of primary nat- 
ural resources had in view only the saving of waste in exploiting 
present resources. Forest production by growth was overlooked 
as impractical. 

Personally I do not have much expectation that many pri- 
vate owners of land in the South will individually undertake for- 
estry merely on a showing that these lands are capable of 
producing thirty to forty thousand feet per acre in forty years. 

Nor do I believe that they will succeed in colonizing their cut- „ „ ^. 

1 J 1 • c Collective hf- 

over lands on any large scale under plans now m vogue. Specu- /^^^ Neces- 

lative land boosting would react to the injury of the country, sary 
Often land may be sold, but not developed. On the other hand, 
I believe the plan of combining agriculture, grazing and for- 
estry is entirely practical, and can be successfully undertaken 
through collective effort. The results are so important that I 
believe that this collective; effort should include the public as 
well as the private owners of the land. 

First of all, there has got to be some stability of ownership 
of the land and policy of its use. Where non-resident owners 



22 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



State Owner- 
ship Would 
Have Some 
Advantages 



Private 
Owners Must 
Face the 
Problem 



who have bought the land for its timber are simply holding- the 
land until they can sell it at almost any price, but little can be 
done. If, however, the owners retain the land with a view to its 
productive use, plans can be put into effect involving the de- 
velopment of the property for the various uses for which its 
different parts are best suited. Neighboring owners could co- 
ordinate their activities of fire protection, grazing administra- 
tion and forestry, just as the Government does with other owners 
whose lands are adjacent to and interlocking with the National 
Forests. Of course, the plan would work out most simply if the 
state owned all the lands. It would sell the agricultural lands 
to settlers and for townsites ; it would sell timber as we do in 
the National Forest, retaining title to the land and providing 
for protection and regrowth ; it would lease grazing privileges on 
the same lands and would provide for miscellaneous special uses 
of the lands as demands might arise. A great deal of the grazing 
would ultimately be by the settlers who would build up herds in 
connection with their farms. The grazing privileges would re- 
sult in an increasing number of settlers who would combine ag- 
riculture and stock raising and thus use land for agriculture that 
without the grazing would not support a family. Progressively 
the agricultural land would thus be occupied and the balance 
put to its best use. 

The timber would furnish a stable and permanent industry 
and contribute also to the increased use of agricultural lands, 
through the markets for food and hay and the chance for part- 
time employment connected with its various activities. This is 
the sort of thing that is actually occurring on an extensive scale 
where the Government owns the land in the National Forests. 

The public does not own the pine lands of the South, and it 
may not be feasible to acquire them. The question is whether 
it is possible to secure under private ownership their productive 
use, even if that is not as complete as if the state owned the 
lands. The public interests in the right handling of these lands 
is so great, the public loss from wrong, handling so far reaching, 
that it is only a question of time before the states themselves 
will enact regulatory and restrictive legislation regarding them 
if they are allowed to become an unproductive waste. A better 
plan, in my opinion, is for the public and private agencies to 
unite forces now and by joint effort work out a method for put- 
ting the development of the pine lands on a permanent and 
stable basis. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 23 



We need in this problem, as in many other matters, not so 
much regulation by the state as correlated action and joint effort 
by the public and private agencies, working toward a common Co-operation 
purpose. This plan is in successful operation in the West in Preferable to 
forest fire protection and in the handling of grazing matters. State Begii- 
While conditions are different in the South, the principle is, 1 ^"^'"o" 
believe, feasible if the land owners are prepared to enter upon a 
far-reaching plan of land administration. 

There would be involved first of all a classification of the 
land and a survey of the resources, both timber and grazing; 
then a plan of development, administration, finance and control. 

Personally I should like to see a plan worked out for a 
specified group of holdings, under the direction of a board or 
committee composed of representatives of the owners and of the 
public agencies that might be interested, as the county, state Offers Assist- 
and federal government. If such joint enterprises could be un- ance of For- 
dertaken it would turn the course of the use of the pine lands ^^' Service 
from a progressive destruction of resources to an upbuilding 
process. If such constructive enterprise should be initiated you 
may confidently count on the support of the Forest Service. 



24 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Practical Utilization of Cut- 
Over Lands 

By Stanley F. Morse 

Consulting Agricultural Expert, formerly of the 
University of Arizona 

Gentlemen : — I am going to endeavor, in a very few mo- 
ments, to outline briefly the possible methods of practical utili- 
zation of these cut-over lands. The first thing I want to call 
your attention to is the fact that the method of utilization should 
be based on the local conditions. I find, in going over the cut- 
over lands, that there doesn't seem to be enough attention paid 
to this fact — that there is a great variety in the conditions 
amongst which these various lands are situated. 

For instance, let us take the conditions that will obtain in 

the different sections where the cut-over lands are located. We 

Differences in ^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^j difference is that of climate. I 

Climate Must , , ^ i- ^i • u j-rr ^ 

n C id don t suppose many of you realize there is so much diiterence, 

^j.p(l but if you will travel north from New Orleans a hundred miles 

you will find there is an appreciable difference in the dates of 

early and late frosts, and in the mildness of the winter. 

Let us take simply the mildness of the winter. That makes 
a great deal of difference from a cattle-raising standpoint, be- 
cause in the milder sections you not only do not need such elab- 
orate shelters, but the feed will remain greener for a longer 
period. Then, of course, the early and late frosts help to deter- 
mine the kind of crops you can plant. So the first thing to be 
considered is the matter of climate, and that is also tempered 
by the elevation. For instance, you may strike a certain locality 
which is considerably higher than another, and you will find that 
the temperature is cooler ; and in another place in the same latitude 
lower down you will find a milder climate. 

The second thing is the soil. A great many people seem to 

Alt- ver think the land of the cut-over section is more or less the same 

Land Soils . , ,, , r r t ■, r i 

Offer Wide kind of soil. That is a fallacy. As a matter of fact, I have found 

Variety soils varying in the cut-over district from a heavy clay to a very 

light sand. That will make a considerable difference as to the 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 25 

utilization of those lands. The type of agriculture which you are 
going" to attempt to carry on successfully will be governed to a 
large extent by the fertility and type of the soil. Of course, the 
heavy types of soil are apt to be poorly drained and have to be 
broken up, while the lighter types have not so much of the or- 
ganic matter in them and are well drained, and in some cases 
quite leachy. 

I haven't the time to go into this matter in detail, but I 
want to emphasize the fact that in developing the method of 
utilization of this cut-over land you have to study your soil con- 
ditions as well as climatic conditions and then adapt your crops 
or live stock to these conditions. 

The next factor which I would call your attention to, and 
which is also of considerable importance, is the matter of topog- 
raphy ; in other words, what the farmer calls "the lay of the land." 
We may have flat lands, gently rolling lands and hilly lands. 
What difference does that make in the utilization of the land from 
an agricultural standpoint? It makes all the difference in the 
world. For instance, where the land is level in large areas it is "ff^^ £^jj„ ^e 
generally recognized that a rather extensive type of agriculture the Land." 
can usually be profitably practised, for the reason that it permits 
of the use of labor-saving tractor or horse-drawn machinery. If 
you have land broken up by hills and you attempt to run large 
tillage implements over it, you will find that your cost of oper- 
ation is considerably increased. So a vital factor that I would 
call your attention to is the matter of topography. 

I might also point out that where you have rolling' or hilly 
lands you get better drainage ; and there is also a tendency for 
the land to wash, so that if you intend to raise cultivated crops 
you are going to have to terrace your lands. Such lands would 
better be kept in sod for pasture or hay. 

This would be a better and more natural utilization of the 
land under local conditions. I emphasize again, then, that the 
topography of the land is a very vital factor, which will influence 
the success or failure of the type of agriculture you engage in. 
I have seen a number of different methods of development tried, 
and in many of them there seems to have been little attention paid 
to these factors. 

Then comes the fourth factor, of transportation. You hear 
a great deal of talk about the utilization of cut-over lands for 
truck raising. If you are forty or fifty miles from a railroad, how 



26 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Transporta- 
tion Facilities 
Vital Factor 
in Type of 
Crops Grown 



Cut-Over 
Lands Ideal 
for Pasturage 



Live Stock 
Farms Must 
Be of Proper 
Size 



will you get your perishable products to the market? That 
brings up the question of to what extent may we utilize these 
cut-over lands, far distant from railroads, for the production of 
more intensive crops? Naturally, the utilization of lands for 
this purpose is limited. 

As to the adapted agricultural products, very briefly, it 
seems to me that the type of utilization which will be most 
profitable for these cut-over lands is live stock. In the first 
place, there are two or three things which lead to that conclusion. 
The average cut-over land is what might be called of medium to 
low fertility. The fertility, as a rule, is not high, -although I 
have seen some that were in a very good state of fertility ; but 
the average is rather a low state of fertility. That means that 
if you try to produce food crops or any other kind you will have 
to fertilize highly or set aside a period of years during which to 
build up your soil, and that will increase the cost of producing 
your crops and is going to make the production of certain crops 
unprofitable. 

In the second place, these lands are cheap. The grasses are 
fairly good, lespedeza is coming in, and the pasture possibilities 
of these lands seem to be almost unlimited ; and on the rolling 
lands the sod tends to hold the soil. You have a natural utiliza- 
tion there by nature's work, and you should utilize that pasture 
in some way. 

I have recently come from the West, and we find that hun- 
dreds of thousands of cattle are being raised on cheap pasture 
— what is known as the range system ; and the only reason we 
can do that is because we have an abundance of this cheap pas- 
ture and we can afford to let our cows graze over this pasture 
and virtually take care of themselves and raise their calves ; and 
then these animals, when they are large enough, are shipped to 
the richer lands for fattening for the market. That seems to be 
the most common and natural utilization of this cut-over land. 
Another thing: The need for more beef cattle is an increasing 
one, and if these lands are available in large areas, and are cheap 
and adapted to pasture crops, that should encourage the influx of 
large cattle owners who can operate on a big scale, and they can 
produce feeders more economically than some of the small men. 
That doesn't mean there is no place for the smaller live stock 
farmer, because I believe there is. One point there: When you 
try to induce the farmer to practice live stock raising, you should 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 27 

not sell him a farm too small. I notice some of the cut-over 
land owners are cutting- their lands up in parcels which, on the 
very face of the thing, are too small to enable the man to make a 
decent living. The amount of income which a live stock farmer 
can secure from an acre is limited by the number of cattle it will 
support, and if you limit him to a certain number of acres his 
aggregate income will not be sufficient to make him a decent 
living, and then he will get discouraged. In the West and other 
parts of the country we have found that you must have a size of 
farm which is sufficient to give the farmer an aggregate income 
which will enable him to operate profitably. So there is a place 
for both the large and the medium-sized farmer. 

Not only cattle, but sheep, can be grown here economically, 
and on some of the cut-over lands I have seen hogs which are ,p. 
as fat as you could desire, in the middle of January — simply d-op Possibil- 
rolling fat ; and these hogs did not have the advantage of winter ities 
green crops such as oats or crimson clover. 

The other utilization will be by means of crops. What can 
we raise? We cannot raise, I believe, gentlemen, what might 
be known as the foodstuff crops. If we attempt to raise wheat 
and barley and products of that sort, which can be more eco- 
nomically produced on better or richer lands elsewhere, we will 
make a mistake ; but if we raise forage crops which are naturally 
adapted to these cut-over lands, that is more apt to give you an 
income. You can either feed them to the cattle or sell them, 
and you have a ready money crop. Among those I might men- 
tion the cow pea, lespedeza and various other legumes and 
grasses which are already adapted for producing feed crops to 
sell as hay or feed to your stock. If you desire to raise grain 
crops, there are only two crops you can give consideration to — 
oats and corn ; also, maybe some legumes or cow pea seed. Oats 
and corn will probably be a fairly profitable crop ; oats is not very 
profitable under the best of conditions, but it is probably better 
than corn. In looking over the cut-over lands. I find corn is a 
very light producer. We find there is a range of from fifteen to- 
thirty bushels per acre, and the lower yields seem to be more 
common. Since most of the cut-over lands are hilly, or of a 
broken character, it is questionable how economical it will be to 
attempt to cultivate corn on lands of that character. This same 
statement applies to cotton, which is a fairly profitable money crop 
under favorable conditions. 



28 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Three Best 
Means of 
Utilization 



Success 
Assured If 
Proper Meth- 
ods Followed 



One more thing: I have mentioned forage crops and grain 
crops, and have forgotten to make any mention of truck prod- 
ucts — the money crops. In certain locaHties a valuable utiliza- 
tion of the lands may be made through the growing of vegetables 
and fruits. To a limited extent, and along the lines of trans- 
portation, there is no question but that, with the aid of fertiliz- 
ers, we may be able to raise adapted crops of vegetables and 
fruits; but we must not get away from the lines of transporta- 
tion. Therefore, there are three main lines of utilization : 

First, cattle raising, which is the largest and will be the best 
method of utilization to start with ; it will be most profitable 
and, to a large degree, the tendency will be to run these cattle 
on a large scale for the production of feeders for the market. 

Second, moderate-sized live stock farming will have a limited 
application, where the farm is not of too small a size, and there 
is carried on a diversified sort of farming with emphasis on cattle, 
hogs, sheep and poultry. 

Third, we can raise forage crops, for the market and for live 
stock feeding, and there will be the limited production of certain 
grain and seed crops ; and then we shall have the more intensive 
money crops, such as vegetables and fruits, in limited adapted areas 
close to transportation. 

That, gentlemen, in a very brief way, is an outline of the 
utilization of these lands ; and I want to emphasize once more 
the necessity of thoroughly analyzing your local conditions be- 
fore you attempt to start farming or colonizing operations. If I 
had time I should like to talk to you more about these things, 
but the important thing for you people to do, before you attempt 
to do anything with certain lands, is to have your conditions 
thoroughly analyzed and have a plan of farming utilization care- 
fully worked out in advance which has a chance for success in 
it, rather than one which has a chance for failure. And in sell- 
ing your land to colonists be sure that for the type of farming 
you are advocating you have adopted the proper area. Before 
you get through you will agree with me that you must have 
farms of the proper size, according to the type of farming your 
farmers will engage in ; and you should see that every assistance 
is given your farmers to follow out the type of farming chosen 
as being best adapted to your conditions. (Applause.) 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 29 

Agriculture from a National 
Standpoint 

By Hon. Carl Vrooman 

Assistant Secretary, United States Department 
of Agriculture 

I shall talk to you in a sketchy, general sort of way about the 
fundamental policies involved in the consideration of the prob- 
lems up for discussion at this Conference. We have, in the 
region under consideration — according to data I have brought 
from Washington — about 76,000,000 acres of cut-over land on 
which there is more or less second growth, and about 15,000,000 
acres on which there is no second growth — on which nothing is 
being produced. 

The problem is, what are we going to do with these lands? 
It is a large subject, and you have wisely cut it up into sub- 
divisions and assigned experts to speak on each topic involved. 
I shall merely make a brief, general survey of the question as a 
whole. The Department of Agriculture w^ould like to encourag^e 
the development for agricultural purposes of all this area which 
is adapted to agricultural purposes. We do not know how 
much of it is adapted to agricultural purposes, and you do not 
know ; and, therefore, the first and most important step that I 
can suggest is to have a survey made — such as we make in Z^'^*"^ ^^ ork 
the national forests — to ascertain which of these lands are suit- ^J^^^^ ^ ^ 
able for agricultural development and which for other kinds of 
development. Those suitable for agricultural development 
should then be surveyed with regard to marketing conditions, 
with regard to labor supply, with regard to the financing of 
such agricultural development and with reg-ard to .every other 
conceivable problem involved in developing these lands for agri- 
cultural purposes. If you proceed to act before you do this, 
you are riding to a fall, you are running into difficulty and you 
are going in for a proposition which is only half digested. There- 
fore, the first step is to make a definite survey of the situation 
to determine what proportion of these lands are good for agri- 
cultural purposes, and what other parts are adapted to stock- 



iMud Survefi 



30 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



lability of 

Cnl-Over 

Lands 



Forest Fire 
Problem Must 
Be Solved 



raising purposes. A g-ood deal of this'land would be adapted to 
raisings sheep, cattle and hogs, which would not be at all adapted 
to raising' cotton, corn, sugar cane or soy beans, or any of the 
Varied Adap- other grain crops. The rest of the land, which is neither adapted 
to agriculture in the shape of crops or agriculture in the shape 
of live stock development, should then be set aside as a permanent 
forest area and a permanent forestry policy worked out through 
the co-operation of the Federal Department of Agriculture, or 
the State Forestry Service, and the owners of the land. 

Perhaps the greatest single obstacle to a proper development 
of any of these lines of activity — agriculture, live stock or for- 
estry — is the forest fire ; the forest fire not only destroys a lot of 
forest trees, but it destroys the humus in the soil and the 
plant life on which the live stock subsist. Until you have worked 
out a policy which will enable us, unitedly, to solve the problem 
of forest fires, you have not taken your first step in the develop- 
ment of the cut-over areas of this or any other region. That is a 
problem that will need the united attack of the Federal Govern- 
ment, the state government and the private owners of these lands. 
When once you solve this problem and make your surveys, then 
we are ready to get to work on the subdivisions of the problem. 
Then we should have established, in all the different sections 
where these lands are located, experiment stations where we can 
experiment on solutions for all the problems connected with the 
agricultural and live stock industries in these regions. At the 
present time there is a good deal that you do not know, that the 
state bodies do not know, and that nobody knows with regard 
to these problems. AVe have not yet worked out all the problems 
connected with the matter of grasses on which to raise the 
live stock. We have not worked out the problems connected 
with the proper crops to be grown to best advantage on those 
parts of these lands which are agricultural in their possibilities. 
We have not yet worked on these problems sufficiently to know 
what method of reforestation to adopt. If you were to take 
this matter up with our Congressmen and Senators, the United 
States Government undoubtedly would be willing to establish 
experiment stations in the different sections of the South where 
all these problems could be worked out until a proper solution 
for them was found. 

Now, in looking at this problem the fundamental principle 
involved is an old one, and an old one that is today receiving a 



Experiment 

Stations 

Needed 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 31 

good deal more emphasis than it ever received in the past. In 
the past, the business men and the Government did not always 
understand each other. Business men felt that the Government 
very often was making business activity on their part unneces- 
sarily difficult. The Federal Government, on the other hand, 
felt that it was only meeting certain problems which had to be 
grappled with in order to protect the innocent investor. But we Business Men 
have, during the past year or two — and today it is more evident ctnd Govern- 
than ever — discovered that the Government and the business "'^"^ Getting 
men of this country are able to get together and understand each 
other. (Applause.) The Government is asking the business 
men to put their cards on the table face up. and on that basis 
we are getting together for a great constructive effort to build 
up the agricultural, mineral and industrial resources of this 
countr}- 

Gentlemen, this country has a greater future before it than 

any of us realize. I suppose the publicity men working on these 

problems think that thev are able to paint, in as roseate colors 

as the facts will warrant, the agricultural possibilities of this 

region ; but allow me to say to you that no publicity man has yet 

dream.ed of the extent of the agricultural, live stock and forestry Cut-Over 

possibilities of this great region. We have only just scratched ^^^^ Possi- 

the surface of our national resources ; and if we will all pull / ' '^^ . ^'. 
1 1 -11- • t , , . . dreamed Of 

together, each willmg to give a square deal to every legitimate 

interest involved, these resources can be developed, step by 

step, until we astonish ourselves by the riches that will be the 

outcome of our united efforts. 

All this was true about two weeks ago. Since then some- 
thing has happened which has changed very materially the 
psychology of the American people. We are now in a state of 
war. Everything we could have said ten days ago about this 
problem we can now say with a thousand per cent of added em- 
phasis. The time has now come for America to make the most of 
her resources of men, of land, of capital, and of patriotism ; if 
there ever was a time when we should all put our cards and 
chips on the table and see what we can all do with everything 
we have, in order to strengthen our nation in this international 
crisis, this is the hour. (Applause.) 

I don't know how much of this cut-over land is adapted to 
immediate use for agricultural or live stock purposes. We hope 



32 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



M'ar's De- the war is going to be a short one ; but nobody knows. It may 

mands Upon drag along for years. Therefore, let us have two programs' — 
e ou an ^^^^ ^^^ immediate and emergency program, what we can do 
this week, this month, this year ; and the other a permanent 
program of national development that will g"o steadily ahead 
during all the years to come. I left Washington ten days ago ; 
stopping at Atlanta, Memphis, Little Rock, Shreveport, and 
today at New Orleans. I have been talking to the people at 
each of these places about agricultural preparedness, or about 
food preparedness. I have told the people of the South that the 
Federal Government is expecting the South this year to do some- 
thing very novel to the South. It means a great change in 
the methods of the South. The Federal Government is expecting 
the South this year to feed herself, and for two reasons : First 
of all, because if the South does not feed herself the South 
will go hungry before the year is out. We are not asking very 
much of the South. We would have a perfect right to ask the 
South not only to feed herself, but to contribute her quota toward 
feeding the soldiers in the field, and also toward feeding our 
Allies in the trenches of Europe ; but we are not asking that ; 
we are not asking the maximum — we are asking the minimum ; 
and we confidently expect the South to respond in full measure 
to what we ask of her. 

When the war was started in Europe most of the countries 
there thought war was conducted by armies, and that all they 
had to do to win was to get a lot of men together, train them to 
shoot and send them to the trenches. England was the slowest, 
but finally she got together the cream of her young manhood, 
the most self-sacrificing, the most patriotic, the best men of 
England's England, and they went over to France and Flanders and were 

Early Mis- mowed down as with a scythe, because England forgot that men 
takes can't fight successfully against superior armament, that courage 

does not take the place of cannon ; and so, for month after 
month, the English soldiers stayed in the trenches and were 
shot to pieces because Germany had cannon which shot two 
or three miles farther than theirs did. Then England set to 
work to get guns, and she found she had pounds of powder where 
she ought to have had tons. She then set to work and created 
munition factories on such a scale that today they manufacture 
more arms and munitions in a day than they used to manufacture 
in a year. Then they found something else was wrong. The 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 33 

working men began to strike all over England. The working 
men said the capitalists were making big war profits and yet 
their wages had not been increased, and they struck ; and Lloyd 
George exhorted them and begged them to return to their work 
from patriotic motives, and they said, "We are perfectly willing 
to work, but we have to have a square deal ; if our masters make 
huge war profits, then our wages must go up." They would not 
budge an inch. Finally, the workingmen sent word to the 
Prime Minister and said: "We have a proposition; our masters 
say we are disloyal, we are slackers and shirkers ; we will find 
out who is the slacker and the shirker ; now we will not only 
work for low wages, but for no wages at all, on one condition — 
that the capitalists put their plants and coal mines and rail- 
roads at the disposition of the Government as we offer to do • 
our labor, without remuneration." Then the Government called 
together the capitalists and the workingmen and the Govern- 
ment officials and had a conference ; and after a day or two they 
worked out a plan which guaranteed to capitalists a reasonable 
profit on their investment and no more, and to workingmen a 
reasonable wage that would take care of them, even with the 
prices of food as high as they were, and no more; and on this 
basis they harnessed all the industrial, agricultural and financial 
strength of England in the great war, and since that day you 
have seen England leaping forward like a powerful automobile 
that has been thrown into high — the change was magical, because 
from that moment every man, woman and child in Great Britain 
was working with one purpose only — to advance the cause of 
their common country. They found that no nation is prepared 
which does not take justice out of the Bible and out of the 
skies and out of the hearts of jurists and judges and prophets 
and bring it down to earth and write it into the laws and victory or 
institutions of men. (Applause.) And after they had done all Defeat De- 
that, they found there was still something lacking. They found pends on 
what Germany had found— and France, and Italy, and even Rus- ^«°^ Supplies 
sia — that after all, an army travels on its belly; that this is a 
war not between armies but between nations and combinations 
of nations, and every man, woman and child is doing his bit 
to help his country. With thirty million people slowly starv- 
ing in Germany, and every other country in Europe being put 
on war rations, they found that the war is going to be determined 
not bv the nation with the greatest number of men in the 



34 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



trenches and the greatest quantities of munitions and of financial 
resources available, but by the combination of nations that is 
able to feed itself the longest. Just at this juncture we got into 
the war. We have not enough soldiers to count materially. Our 
national army and our militia will not be large enough for a long 
time to turn the tide of battle on any one of half a dozen battle 
fronts. You will remember that when Rumania went into the 
war she had 750,000 soldiers, but instead of helping her allies 
her entrance strengthened her opponents. It is millions of men 
that count. 

We will probably send a division over there on the firing line 
in France just to show that we are present in the flesh as well 
as in the spirit, just to plant the Stars and Stripes beside the 
flags of our Allies ; just to show that this country has not for- 
gotten the time when Lafayette and Rochambeau came to 
America to help us (applause) ; that will be done largely for its 
Food and moral effect. The chief things we can do during the next six 

More Food months will be to finance and feed the troops of the Allies. We 
the Cry from i^^ive untold wealth. This country is wealthier than all the com- 
Abroad bined nations on the continent of Europe. So we can finance our 

Allies for years to come. But that is not the most immediate 
need. They now need food, more food and still more food, be- 
cause every country in Europe has been tightening its belt now 
for some time ; and if the submarine warfare had succeeded Eng- 
land would have been brought to her knees within three months. 

The South produces much food, but she imports from the 
North and West nearly half a billion dollars worth of food and 
foodstuffs every year in excess of the fruits, vegetables, cotton 
seed products, etc., which she exports to the North. When we 
ask vou to produce your own food and feed yourself we are 
only asking you to release that much food and foodstuffs witli 
which to feed our soldiers in the field and our Allies in the 
trenches. Is the South going to respond to this call? If she 
doesn't, it is the first call of duty the South ever ignored. 
(Applause.) 

Now that means individual sacrifice. This means that every 

The Soiith's man, woman and child in the South, without a single exception. 

Duty to the has a duty to perform ; the children to put in gardens — I don't 

Nation mean flower gardens, I mean vegetable gardens that will produce 

food for you during the summer months and enable you to can 

and dry and put aside food for the winter months. If you 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 35 

haven't a garden larger than this platform — it will be valuable 
not only for the food it will produce but for what it typifies. 
This flag that I wear on my breast is not big, but it represents 
everything dearest in life to every man, woman and child under 
its folds, and when you have put in one little bit of a garden, 
it stands as the symbol of the fact that you stand ready to do 
your bit for your country in this great national crisis. 

And then the planters and farmers of the South ; some of 
themjiave gone cotton crazy; because they are getting 22 cents 
a pound for cotton they can only see cotton. Up in Kentucky 
and Virginia and other states they are raising tobacco. It may 
be all right to chew tobacco, but it isn't going to feed you if you 
have to chew tobacco and spit cotton in the wintertime. And 
then our transportation systems — they already have been repeat- 
edly congested in times of peace ; and during the coming months 
they will be weighed down with an ever increasing military re- 
sponsibility. If they are congested, you can't get food through ,<(. th M t 
from the North ; and then, if the South has failed to raise her i^aise Her 
own foodstuffs, she will go hungry. So, if there are any Own Food or 
cotton planters here today, or if you know any cotton plant- ^^ Hungry" 
ers, take this message to them from their Government : Any man 
who is a loyal American citizen is going to do his share toward 
raising the food crops of his region during the next season, and 
any man not ready to do that is not worthy to be protected by 
the flag of our common country. (Applause.) We are sending 
our boys to the front. They are going up there, perhaps, to be 
shot to pieces. We are here urging them to be brave and 
patriotic, and yet some of us may lag behind and fail to do the 
little thing we are asked to do — to make the small sacrifice we 
are asked to make. I know it is not easy to take a lot of tenants 
trained to raise cotton and have them raise corn, or soy beans, 
or sweet potatoes. I am a landlord myself. But this is not a 
Sunday-school picnic. This is war; and we are not asking you "War No Sun- 
alone to do these things — we are asking every American citizen day-School 
to take up the most diflficult task and do it gladly for his country. '^"'^ 
If we will do that, if we will get that spirit into the emergency 
work of the next few months, then this larger, more permanent 
work of development of agricultural, live stock and forestry 
resources of the South in due time will go forward with giant 
strides. We need the right spirit in this work. If everybody 
becomes imbued with that spirit then the future development 
of the South's resources will be magical. 



36 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

There are a great many other things that may be said along 
these same lines, but there are a number of specialists to speak 
to you this afternoon on these other topics, and therefore I will 
simply thank you for your attention, and wish you success in 
your great constructive and patriotic task. (Prolonged applause.) 

The Cut-Over Land Owner's 

Responsibility — His 

Opportunity 

By Hon. Clay Tallman 

Commissioner, General Land Office United States 
Department of the Interior 

I want to say first that I am very appreciative of the oppor- 
tunity to come here and contribute a little, if I can, to the 
development of a national resource, particularly a basic resource 
like the land, to see if we cannot find a way to make it produce 
a little more and add something to the upbuilding of the nation. 
At the outset, I should say that so far as the public land in 
the South is concerned, for the purpose of this discussion, it is 
altogether negligible. The problems we are working on every 
day concern the lands of the Western states, where the great bulk 
of the remaining public lands are ; there we are working out 
South's Prob- problems and overcoming obstacles not altogether unlike those 
lems Not Un- you have here, and problems in which, I believe, the general 
f th w / principles — the controlling principles — are very much the same. 
I feel in a way, so far as I am personally concerned, as if this 
program is a little bit wrong end to ; not that I want to be 
critical, but just because, in attacking a land problem of this 
sort, when we take it up in the Western states, we first like 
to learn as much as we can about the subject; we want to know 
that in as much detail as possible ; and I can only wish that 
before I came on this program there had been some speakers 
— as I understand there will be — who had already given us the 
facts more in detail before we take up the problem with a view 
to its solution. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 37 

I might say further that I don't want to appear presump- 
tuous. I realize that the sort of problems we are working on 
are in a different part of the country, where climate, topography, 
soil conditions and producing conditions are very much dif- 
ferent. The people, it has been my experience, are just about 
the same all over these United States ; and they are just about 
equally progressive in one place as another; and they are equally 
patriotic, and equally anxious to respond to an appeal such as 
Mr. Vrooman made here today. 

Moreover, so far as the West is concerned, there is no 
spirit of adverse competition ; they want you to do the very Sectional 
best you can here ; they want you here in this Southern country Jl!^^^ ' / */,- 
to make the best and most of these resources you have ; we past 
feel you want us in the West to do likewise, because we know, 
even from a selfish standpoint, that the more you can raise the 
more money you can make, and the more people you have making 
a good living, the more of our product you will be able to buy, 
and the better we do the more of your products we will be able 
to buy ; the time is long since past when there is any necessity 
for a spirit of destructive competition as between different parts 
of this country. I talked to a man in Virginia the other day 
who is very familiar with the growth and development of that 
state, and he told me, among other things, that there were 
thousands of acres of formerly cultivated lands in Virginia that 
had been permitted to grow to trees, and I said to him, "Why 
was that?" He said, "After the war of the States there was the 
great Middle West ; and we couldn't compete with the country 
out there where they had unlimited cheap and fertile lands." 
Those conditions have passed, as I will attempt to show you. 

Now, speaking in a general way, it would seem to me that 
one of the first questions that presents itself is whether or not 
there is anything in this proposition we are talking about ; 
whether our efforts must result in failure, as regards this tract 
of seventy million acres now lying idle ; are we dreaming about 
an impossible thing, or have we a practical problem on which 
we have a fair chance of success? To me, with the experience 
I have had in recent years, it seems very strange, it seems 
almost incomprehensible, to think of seventy million acres of 
land that will raise anything at all, lying idle, and not being 
made to produce the most and best it can. 



38 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

My home state — Nevada — is probably as unlike conditions 
that exist here in point of climate, products and general condi- 
tions that we have to deal with as regards crop production, as 
any other part of the United States. I have traveled all over 
that vast area, and if there is any place in that state, in the most 
remote place,, way off in a canyon, 50 or 100 miles from a 
railroad, where there is a little spring that will produce an inch 
of water that somebody has not got, and that somebody is not 
using and making the most of, I don't know the place, and I 
don't know anybody else who does. So I say, it is strange to 
me, it is difficult to understand, how there can be great areas 
- of productive land here that are not being used. 

Now, as a preliminary, sometimes it is desirable, in grap- 
pling a big problem like this, to get a sort of comprehensive view 
of the land conditions throughout the nation as a whole, to sort 
(if get a line on the trend of the times, as it were — ask ourselves 
the question, where do we stand in this nation as a whole on this 
question? What is its present status? Perhaps a reference, 
for a minute or two, to the history of the public lands of the 
United States would not be amiss. 

In the early days of this government. Congress looked upon 
the land as a resource merely to pay debts with, merely to get 
monev out of ; and consequently we find that the public lands 
were disposed of almost exclusively, until the year 1841, on an 
essentially cash sale system ; millions of acres were disposed of 
to pay debts. Consequently, the government. offered the public 
lands at public auction, and if they were not sold at public 
sales, they were sold at private sale and anybody could buy all 
he could pay for; and so we disposed of a great area in that 
way. The government got a comparatively small amount of 
money out of it, and there was an era of much speculation and 
comparatively little development ; the poor man with only his 
hands didn't have a chance. They never asked the purchaser 
what he was going to do with the land — whether he would 
cultivate it or what he intended to do with it. 
The Fir t That system went on until 1841, and then public thought 

Preemption began to change and we had the first preemption law, a little 
Law modification of the cash sale, whereby the government said, "We 

will sell this land to you, and if you will live on it and make 
your residence on it, you will have a preference right for a 
limited time in which to buy it." It was a modification of 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



39 



the cash sale, whereby a man could get a preference right 
by settlement. Time went on, and in the year 1862, in the 
midst of the war, Congress woke up to the proposition that 
the mere money we were getting out of these public lands 
was the least consideration ; that the matter of cultivation, de- 
velopment and homebuilding was the great big consideration 
that we should look to; and from 1862 on, you will notice, in 
all the land laws, all the acts of Congress — that the controlling 
and main thought has been, how can we dispose of these lands 
so as to produce the most homes and the greatest development 
and use. 

And so there was never any one act of Congress which so 
well laid the foundation for the development of the Middle West 
and the Far West as the Homestead law. We had disposed of, 
roughly, under the old system, of from 80 to 100 million acres. 
Under the Homestead law we have disposed of 150 million acres; 
and under the Commuted Homestead law, whereby by a shorter 
residence and a cash payment title could be secured to the land, 
we disposed of 50 million acres more. The operation of that 
legislation has swept from the Mississippi west to the Pacific 
ocean, and no single act of Congress has ever been more con- 
ducive to the upbuilding of a great empire than that legislation. 

The Homestead law meant homes, cultivation and crop rais- 
ing. Then Congress went on and saw the transportation prob- 
lem, and said, we must get railroads to this country in order to 
get the homesteaders there. So we find Congress making great 
railroad grants to induce the building of railroads. Probably 
nothing in the way of land legislation has ever been the subject 
of more controversy and argument, one way or the other, than 
this railroad grant proposition. Congress has given away, as 
donations to railroads, probably 160 million acres. Texas gave 
away 25 million acres more. One thing certain the rail- 
roads did conduce very much to the upbuilding of the 
country. Whether they would have come eventually without 
the grants, or if so, whether they would have come soon enough, 
is a mere matter of speculation. Two years ago, when the ques- 
tion of development in Alaska was up. Congress said, we will 
not give away half of that territory to get railroads ; we will 
keep the land and give it to settlers and build the railroad with 
government money, carrying that controlling principle still 
further, making it easier and more attractive and desirable for 



Homestead 
Act Finally 
Solves 
Problem 



The Govern- 
ment and 
Western Rail- 
road Build- 
ing 



40 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Money Get- 
ting vs. Devel- 
opment 



The Age of 
Co-operation 



the settlers to make homes ; knowing that the more developed 
farms, the more resources there are in the country, the better 
we can always secure the necessary revenues to support the 
government. 

Therefore, we have our public land history divided into 
two periods I have sketched — first, the money getting period ; 
next, the development period. A few years ago there came 
in still another period. We might call it the conservation or 
reservation period. Nobody can tell exactly when it started, but 
it nevertheless did start. Nobody can state, in a sentence, what 
the controlling principle of this period is, but, in a general way, 
this last period revolves around this thought : that we have been 
lax in the enforcement of many of our land laws ; that we have 
not always looked carefully to the best use of all these resources ; 
that we have permitted our land laws in many respects to be 
abused ; that we have permitted certain people and interests to 
gain a monopoly of this thing or that thing ; and so we had vari- 
ous changes in the matter of public policy. We have, through 
the West, probably 150 million acres that have been put into for- 
est reserves. We have the Government taking up and spending 
money for reclamation. We have a price put on our coal lands 
above the minimum ; we have the old system which operated 
to lock up the coal of Alaska, replaced by a complete leasing 
system ; we have a price put on the timber lands above the 
minimum, the idea being to make the land free and easy to get 
always for the man who will develop and use it to the best 
advantage ; but if it is a straight out-and-out business proposi- 
tion, and does not involve a home building principle, then he 
should pay what it is worth. 

I think we are gradually growing into a fourth period. I 
can see it coming in many ways. Some aspects of it were de- 
scribed by Secretary Vrooman this afternoon. It is a period of 
co-operative development among all the interests involved. It is 
the period we are starting in on now, where private owners, the 
states and the Federal government will pull together more than 
they have ever done before in the development of these resources. 
And never before in our country's history was each man's private 
business so much everybody's business as it is now. For in- 
stance, we give a charter to a street railroad company to use 
the streets, and' we impose upon the grantee of that right various 
duties and obligations. We say it is a common carrier. Now 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 41 

the tendency is to go further and further with this. The 
tendency is for the public to have an interest in everything 
going on all over this country, whether commonly called private 
or public. For instance, the public will say you have 70 million 
acres of good land lying idle here ; you won't be permitted to 
leave that land lying idle in the United States when we need it 
to produce food for all of us, particularly at a time when the per- 
petuation of our very national existence may depend on our 
ability to feed ourselves and our allies. 

Now, what is the purpose of all this talk about what hap- 
pened fifty years ago, forty years ago and now? I simply want 
to develop this proposition, gentlemen: that the time has come \ii Land 
when every acre of land that will produce anything at all has Has a Value 
some value and should be put to use, that the time is past 
when fertile lands can be had in the great West for the taking; 
the great bulk of those lands are all taken and yet farm products 
continued to rise in price even before the war. If these seventy 
million idle acres can produce anything, the trend of develop- 
ment and increased production is bound to swing back to the 
South and East. Take the cattle business as an illustration. 
Out in Arizona or New Mexico, where it takes forty acres to 
keep a cow, men are very freely paying $1.25 to $5.00 an acre 
for the land, and they are glad to get it. We sold last year 
44,000 acres of land in an Indian Reservation in California at 
public auction. Anybody could buy all he wanted. It was 
picked-over land. The Indians had been allotted the best of it, 
and the homesteaders had taken what they wanted, and this was 
the tail end. It was appraised at $56,000, and we sold it for 
$119,000. Last summer we opened the Colville Indian Reserva- 
tion in Washington, of about 400,000 acres. That was also 
remaining land — after the Indians had been allotted the best 
lands. It was very rough and much of it very dry. We held 
registrations out there for that land, and we had 90,000 applica- 
tions to register for 3,000 farms. In Dakota a year and a half 
ago we had 110,000 acres on the Standing Rock Indian Reserva- 
tion that was appraised at from $2.50 to $8.00 an acre, subject 
to the Homestead law. A man could get only so much of it ; he 
had to homestead it and pay the price, too. We had 30,000 ap- 
plications for that land, and they took every acre of it. This 
spring, just before I came down, I signed instructions for some 
land we appraised two years ago to be appraised at $2.00 more 



42 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

an acre, just indicating how these things are going on. In 
northern Montana we have an Indian reservation, known as 
Fort Peck, and we opened there three years ago a million acres. 
That had been picked over and the best allotted to the Indians. 
These lands were appraised at $2.00 to $7.00 per acre, and we 
opened them to homestead entry with the appraised price in 
addition. At that time there were other lands available, and only 
27,000 acres were taken up the first year ; but the next year, 1915, 
71,000 acres were taken; and last year 198,000 acres were taken 
up. .So that the price didn't trouble them. The demand for 
land on which they can raise something, on which they can 
make a living in this country, is pressing and urgent. Just one 
other word with respect to Fort Peck. A large part of that 
land was classified as coal, and a lot of fellows wanted that land 
so badly they paid for coal filings on it at $10 and $20 an acre. 

Now, the United States Reclamation Service is another in- 
stance of this new era of interrelation between public and private 
business. The government has now expended probably 120 mil- 
$120,000,1)00 lion dollars in building reclamation projects for arid lands. The 
Spent to j,Qg|. Qf reclamation is spread over the land reclaimed. The 

Heclaim And i u ^u ^ • i ^ j .^i ^ , • i, 

Lands people buy the water rights, and they must pay annual mstall- 

ments, under a recent law, covering a period of twenty years, for 
the total cost. What is that cost? All throughout the Western 
states you will find people willingly and gladly paying anywhere 
from $,^0 to $1C0 an acre just for the water alone, to say nothing 
of the cost of reclaiming the land ; and leveling- it and getting 
it ready for crops which may run up to $50 an acre more. 

I am saying these things to you just tO| point out a little of 
what is going on in different parts of the country, just to show 
the demand for farm land under conditions such that a poor 
man can work out a home. 

It was mentioned by a gentleman here today that if you 
don't give a man enough land to make a living on, he is going 
to make a failure. Congress saw that proposition. Back in 
1909 Congress saw that there were large areas in the Western 
country now known as the so-called dry-farming region. It 
has been ascertained that there are great areas in Montana, 
Washington, Idaho and Colorado where crops, particularly grain 
crops, can be raised successfully, where they couldn't raise any- 
thing and didn't raise anything twenty years ago ; the idea is 
to crop the land alternate years so as to put two years' moisture 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 43 

into one year's crop. Congress said this is extensive farming 
instead of intensive. To enable these men to make a go of it 
we must give them more land. Consequently, they gave us the 
Enlarged Homestead act, giving 320 instead of 160 acres of 
desert land. Millions of acres have been taken up Under that 
act. You go out on the Great Northern across Montana, or 
on the Northern Pacific, or on the Oregon Short Line up through 
southern Idaho, and you will find thousands of acres there to- 
day covered with wheat crops, and threshing machines and 
self-binders, and little towns and elevators. They are making 
land which was only worth 5 cents an acre per year as a grazing Five-Cent- 
proposition bring in from $5 to $10 an acre or more per year, (^i^-^^cre Land 
Later on Congress said, this dry farming land is about all gone ; ^.^^j Yearhj 
all that we have left is rough land ; much of it stands straight 
up. Here is a grazing proposition, that land cannot grow crops. 
Consequently, in December last, another homestead law was 
passed known as the Grazing Homestead law, giving the entry- 
man 640 acres of designated grazing land, and since December 
29, 1916, there have been 45,000 applications covering 18 million 
acres of that land. I call your attention to this as showing how 
the people out West are now going after the grazing proposition 
where there is a chance for a poor man to get a little ranch 
of his own. 

In this connection it should be remembered that the Western 
open range is carrying every head of stock it is capable of 
carrying. 

Now, doesn't it stand to reason, if we have any land at all 
left back here in the South, say 70 million acres, or any other 
number of acres, it is up to you to get busy? Won't it raise 
something? I don't know how good it is. It may be half 
swamp, or very low grade, or sandy, but it cannot be any less South Offers 
productive per acre than millions of acres of land in the West Only Cheap 
out of which tremendous amounts of money are being realized "" ^ ^"^ 
today. I think that if you will take a broad comprehensive view rountru 
of the land situation of the country you will come to the con- 
clusion that there is no question of doubt that you can success- 
fully compete on this land with the rest of the country; in fact 
the matter of food production can hardly be said to be longer 
in the competitive stage ; it is rather a question of getting enough. 

While in the new development of the raw land it is always 
best to have cattle and sheep first, I want to say to you that 



44 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

wherever anybody can make a decent living, the proper and 
PtWh'^"^^ ^^^^^^^^^ thing- to do is to get people on your land and cut it 
Practicable ^P ^"^° small farms, as many as you can, making self-sustaining 

and self-owned homes. (Applause.) 

We have had a great fight during the last few months be- 
tween the stockmen and the homesteaders ; between those who 
were for and against the 640 acre grazing homestead law. The 
cattle men, almost to a unit, opposed it. But the other fellow, 
who stood for the homestead law, and who proved to be in the 
majority, contended that whenever we have been able to get 
people on the land we have gotten more cattle from it than 
before, and a lot more things besides, and the settlers have 
made a living and built towns and schools. 

Those of you who have been to Colorado know that across 

that great eastern portion, for many miles back of the Kansas 

Little of ^i"^' ^s a great area of rolling plains. Twenty years ago, when I 

Western Cow used to go across there, it was nothing but a cow country. One 

Country Left would see scarcely a habitation or town. You go across there 

now and you will find that as a result of this 320-acre homestead 

law that whole country is settled, and that country is producing^ 

more meat than it ever did before. 

I was talking to a Congressman who told me of a valley 
which a cattle company had completely controlled for years, 
and when the 320-acre homestead law came in it drove the 
cattle company out, and now that valley is producing much more 
cattle than the cattle company produced, and crops of grain 
besides. 

Now, my friends, we have heard considerable here today 
about various settlement and colonization schemes ; while I agree 
with much that has been said, I want to say as a general thought 
that if you will demonstrate the possibilities of these lands and 
show their usefulness and practicability for home building pur- 
poses under conditions such that a man can bring up and educate 
his children under modern conditions, and you will sell the lands 
at prices and on terms such that an industrious man can pay 
out, you will not have to resort to any colonization schemes r 
you can't keep the settlers out. 

Now, the chief obstacle in the way, invariably in the West, 
is the speculator. Invariably he wants to get in between the 
large land proposition and the man who ultimately cultivates. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 45 

it, and drag down all the profit. I want to say that on this 
70,000,000 acres, or any part of it, if you are taking a broad- 
minded, patriotic view of the situation and not a very narrow Conservative 
or short-sighted one, don't put any proposition up to the settler Development 
that you are not morally certain he can make a success of if he M^t"o<ts Best 
will work ; because his failure is ultimately bound to be the 
failure of the community and the state. 

Now, in closing, I am going to venture a suggestion. This 
is private land, for the most part. I expect it is largely owned 
by the timber companies who cut it off. What are you going 
to do with it? It was said that if it was Government land the 
Government could handle it like the forest reserves are handled. 
As I said, this is private land. You can do more with private 
land than with Government land, because you are free to do 
with it just exactly as you please, not hindered by law, or super- 
visory authority. It seems to me that if I were the owner of any 
considerable block of this land I would first have it very care- 
fully cruised and examined by the best expert I could get; 
I would have him go over this land with a fine tooth comb for 
the purpose of determining as nearly as possible just exactly 
what the land is best adapted to and what it needs in the way 
of improvement or building up. I would then, with the advice of Suaaestions 
experts, lay out a plan of procedure and then go to work, on for Cut-Over 
a small scale at first, to demonstrate fully and conclusively just Land Owners 
what could be done with the land. When you are successful 
in this demonstration then you have reached a point where you 
can offer some of this land to the public. Wherever possible 
the sale should be made direct to the settler without any inter- 
vening selling agency and consequent added expense. The sale 
should be at rock bottom prices, on easy terms, with little to pay 
to begin with, except to demonstrate good faith, the balance 
being extended over, as long a time as possible, on as low a 
rate of interest as is consistent with good business, and the 
sale should be on condition that the buyer will reclaim and 
cultivate or otherwise make good use of the land. You should 
sell him just as much as he will reclaim, cultivate and use, and 
not more. Effort should be made to sell adjoining and con- 
tiguous lands to other settlers to the end that a neighborly com- 
munity may be established which will thereby be able to build 
up its towns, schools and marketing facilities by joint effort. 
Every reasonable assistance should be given the good faith 



46 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

settler to help him get started. This matter of building up an 
agreeable community life is by no means the least important in 
this connection. In this manner I believe you will be able in 
the long run not only to realize a fair price for the land, but 
you would be contributing a great thing to the upbuilding of the 
state and the United States. 

Gentlemen, the leading thought I have tried to leave with 
you this afternoon is that it seems to me that we have passed 
the point, we have answered the question of whether or not 
the proposition you have presented to you here is worth while. 
I think there can be no doubt about it. 



Lumbermen's Activities, 
Past, Present and Future 

By J. Lewis Thompson 

I have been requested to tell you a little something about 
what we have done ourselves in development, what progress 
we are making in our cut-over lands. I can't say it in any boast- 
ful spirit, because I have fought the opposition of our stock- 
holders, and I have spent money which is considerable for us, 
and it has been spent just because I took the bull by the horns 
and went ahead with it. Some of our stockholders think I know 
naught of what I am doing, and the future may answer that 
question ; but for the present we have done this : We have 
already fenced 60,000 acres. In that 60,000 acres we have some 
10,000 Acres six pastures. We have five different ranches. In these differ- 
o the Fasture ^^^ pastures we are using native cattle as far as we can — getting 
in good bulls. On one of our ranches we have a registered herd 
of Herefords with which we propose to raise our Hereford 
bulls, and on another ranch the Shorthorns. We have been 
going at the thing in a systematic way, but we have been 
groping a little bit in the dark. Last year we had 300 acres 
in cultivation. We built thirteen 100-ton silos, with sorghum 
silage. We find that sorghum gives twice as much ensilage 
per acre as corn does. We may not know how to take care 
of the corn, but we have found that sorghum produces twelve 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 47 



to twenty tons of ensilage per acre. This year we have a 
hundred acres in peanuts; we have forty acres in sweet pota- 
toes ; and we have about 300 acres in sorghum, and we propose 
to build twenty-five silos this year. We figure a ton of ensilage 
will carry the cattle you have to feed — will carry one head 
through the winter— and puts them on the grass in the spring 
in fine condition, so that they start right off to growing. We 
have the only dipping vat in the two counties we are located in. 
The question, "What part is the lumberman to play in the 
upbuilding of the Southland through the proper development 
and use of the vast areas of cut-over lands that are as yet 
largely unused?" is one that every timber and timber land owner 
has a right to be interested in, and is, I trust. 

The lumber industry of the South came to life after the 
Civil War. Previous to that great war the South was given 
over almost entirely to the production of cotton. It was a land 
about equally divided between aristocrats and poor whites, with ^^j^iy jj^yg ^f 
the negroes for the laboring class. In those days the lumber Lumbering in 
production of the country came from the North, but as the price the South 
of stumpage and the value of lumber advanced in the Northern 
territories, the lumber folks naturally began to seek other and 
newer forests and the South came in for a large share of their 
attention. 

Then began the development of the forests of the South. 
What this development has amounted to, and what the lumber 
industry means to the South today, is a matter of fact with 
which we are all familiar. He is the largest employer of the 
South — a great community builder — and a leading spirit in his lumberman 
locality. The lumberman is essentially a pioneer. He seeks Blazes the 
new forests when his old ones have been cut away, and he builds Way for 
up and develops the territory in which he chooses to locate. Be- Civilization 
hind the lumberman come farms, schools, villages and eventually 
cities. Whenever you find him, you find a constructive worker, 
and a natural builder. 

As an individual, the lumberman stands high among the 
industrial people of the land. As a citizen he is known always 
for his activity, his progress and his generosity. 

As an industry, there is much for the lumber folks to do — a 
world of needful work that must be done — and a great field of 
undeveloped opportunity that stretches out before him in every 
direction. The opportunities that present themselves to the 



48 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



"Cut-Over 
Lands Could 
Feed the 
Nation" 



Combining a 
Patriotic 
Duty and 
Profitable In- 
vestment 



lumbermen of the future are greater even than those that pre- 
sented themselves in the past. 

The lumbermen of the Southland are the owners of enough 
land at present barren to build a new world. They have in their 
possession the potential makings of a veritable empire, it is their 
privilege, if they will grasp it, to carry out a great work for the 
development and upbuildings of the entire South. There is 
enough cut-over timber land in the hands of the lumbermen of 
the South today to feed this entire nation, if properly cleared, 
fertilized, cultivated and farmed. The possibilities of this land 
for farming and growing purposes has no reasonable limit. It 
is the most fruitful soil within the limits of the continent. It 
will raise anything and everything, within reasonable limits. 

The lumbermen have the ability to handle the problem of 
handling and developing the cut-over lands of the South. They 
can do so with commercial success, because properly handled, 
there is money to be made in the work. The argument that has 
long been advanced against the lumber manufacturer doing any- 
ing specific with his cut-over lands was that no decent return 
could be made on the investment and he was not in position to 
develop this land out of charity. 

The demand for better soil and newer farming districts has 
gradually increased the values of the Southern land that once 
grew^ forests, and today it is a possibility for men to take this 
cut-over land and make a success of developing and selling it 
for farming purposes. This is a proposition in itself that re- 
quires specific handling, and the great trouble with the mill man 
has always been that he was so busy running his mill that he 
could not and would not divide his attention. 

He can, however, in the future co-operate in the work that 
is proposed for developing these lands, and may do much with- 
out actually giving all his personal attention to the matter. I 
believe that he will not be slow in manifesting his willingness 
and ability to co-operate in the great work that means at one 
and the same time an excellent investmient financially and a great 
work for the future. There are, therefore, both financial and 
sentimental reasons why the lumber manufacturers should start 
now to develop this great heritage of potential wealth that Prov- 
idence has bestowed upon them. 

There have been times, I admit, when many of us have 
seriously questioned whether this Providential bestowal was in 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



49 



Value of Cut- 
Over Lands 
Beginning to 
Be Recog- 
nized 



the nature of a gracious gift, or a full-grown millstone to be 
carried around our necks. That time has passed, however, and 
there are few of us today who do not appreciate the value of 
these cut-over lands, and have not some general idea of their 
future importance. 

In the past the lumberman has accepted his various trusts 
and handled them well. I know that he will do so in this case. 
He came to the South, saw the possibilities of the forests for 
the future, bought and developed same on his own initiative and 
without outside financial assistance built his plants and his rail- 
roads, developed the country, acted as home builder to the nation, 
solved his industrial, commercial and labor problems, and did 
much to develop the South from a strictly cotton country to a 
great industrial part of the commonwealth. 

He is able to do much with this heritage of undeveloped 
cut-over lands, which is not really unlike the wealth of forests of 
the South, when he first encountered them. Cut-over land today 
is fully as valuable a present asset as were the great forests of 
the South when the lumberman first invaded them. The future 
possibilities of the land are easily as great as the possibilities of 
the forest have proven to be. An investment in these lands to- 
day can be reasonably expected to be a better investment than 
an investment in pine timber in Louisiana or Texas would have 
been fifty years ago. 

The ownership of the great cut-over lands of the South is 
largely in the hands of the lumbermen. A great trust has been 
thrust upon them. The question of what shall be done with these 
vast holdings is one that has been growing louder and more 
insistent with every year that passes. It is really a mighty 
heritage — one that may be developed into boundless possibilities. 
The possibilities are limited only by the efforts that will be 
made in this direction. 

In the days to come, when history of the South is written, 
will the lumberman be able to lift his head and report that he 
has accepted his heritage and developed it as commanded us in Lumbermen 
the parable of the ten talents, or will he be kept side-stepping, W/7/ Measure 
trying to find an alibi and explain why he did not do so? That ^P '^.^.'^ ^^' 
question is soon to be settled, but with the faith that I have, in the sponsibilities 
ever-readiness of the followers of the lumber industry to do 
their part, I know that the record will be kept straight, and 



Lands Worth 
as Much as 
Original 
Forests 



50 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

that when the time for writing- this history comes, the lumber 
folks will find their credit side of the ledger to be well filled. 

They will develop these cut-over lands ; they will assist in 
the tilling of the soil ; they will develop and build up great com- 
munities where their forests once stood ; they will encourage and 
make possible scientific farming; they will send their children 
to agricultural schools, where they will learn the great lessons 
of proper use of the soil ; they will lay a great foundation for 
their children and their children's children, to assist them in 
carrying on the work of making this Southland the Great Gar- 
den Spot of America. 



The Railroads' Part in the 
South's Development 

By J. C. Clair 

Industrial Commissioner of the Illinois Central 

Railroad 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — I was invited to attend this 
Conference, but was not told I would be called upon to make any 
remarks. It was a pleasure, however, to come down here to 
meet with you, and in looking over your work and appreciating 
Farms and it from all angles I only regret that real transportation men are 
.ll^^^j _.T "°^ ^^ ^^^ program. If there is any time in the history of this 
country when the two greatest and foremost industries of the 
world are to be appreciated and should be appreciated, it is at 
this time — agriculture and transportation — they go hand in hand, 
one with the other. 

It certainly was inspiring to listen to that gentleman, the 
Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, this afternoon ; as well as 
to the other men who followed and preceded him. I deem this 
one of the most important conventions upon one of the most 
important subjects that has come before the Southern people — 
in fact, the nation as a whole — and I am glad to be here this 
afternoon and speak for four or five minutes. 

We should enter into this matter in the spirit of real co- 
operation, as partners, and we can learn much from each other. 



ter dependent 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 51 

The Illinois Central railroad, appreciating the Department of 
Agriculture at Washington, the administration field work of that 
department ; the agricultural colleges of the various states 
through which our lines traverse, took it upon themselves, a few 
years ago, to co-operate with those agencies to the best of their 
ability. 

Mr. C. H. Markham, president of our road, is vitally inter- 
ested in your development work. He made his mark, years ago, 
on the Southern Pacific in this work ; and it is not many years 
since he was only a station agent ; but through his activities, 
and what he was able to bring about with the various adminis- 
trations interested in development work, he is today President 
of one of the largest corporations of transportation in this 
country. 

He directed me to look over the Southern Mississippi Valley 
to ascertain what further could be carried on — what should be 
done at once. 

I went over the State of Mississippi in the interests of the 
creamery business, feeling that that great state should make its 
own butter. I discovered there were two creameries in the 
state two years ago last fall — one carried along on the Mobile & 
Ohio, and a small one at Brookhaven, on the Illinois Central, a 
failure for very good reasons. I do not desire, however, to over- 
look the Creamery Co-operative Dairy College, at Starkville, 
Mississippi, which, of course, was a success — a demonstration to 
the people of that state who wished to consider the dairy business. 
It was my recommendation that all communities served bv the ^ 

\ TPClllTPVU 

Illinois Central, where they would guarantee sufficient cows or Development 

butter fat, construct a proper building in an up-to-date way, that in Mississippi 

our company furnish the business manager, at our expense, for 

one year; realizing, that in a year's time, such a man could picture 

to the farmer the importance of getting a good milk cow, explain 

to him the separator, explain about utilizing the natural fertilizer, 

etc. Several of those co-operative creameries are under way, 

after two years, and all are a success. At this time, together with 

those who have taken the work up in a private way, there are 

seventeen creameries in Mississippi. I sincerely hope that the 

state will call upon the Illinois Central within the next twelve 

months for sixteen more creameries managers. We will be pleased 

to furnish them at our expense. 



52 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Practical Co- 
operation 
With the 
Farmer 



Neiv Blood 
Important in 
Cattle Raising 



In taking the schools to the farms we have 32 demonstration 
farms in the Southern Mississippi Valley. This last year we dis- 
tributed 90 pure bred sires in Southern Illinois, Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Mississippi in the interest of improved live stock, 
both beef and dairy types, Angus, Shorthorns, Herefords, 
Guernseys, Jerseys and Holsteins. 

Now, gentlemen, in this work of activity and co-operation, 
we find it is useless to hand something to somebody on a gold 
platter. The Lord helps those who help themselves, and that is 
the truth. In order to encourage the dairy business in the South- 
ern Mississippi Valley — and by the way, in the presentation of 
those sires we would not, of course, allow one of those fine bulls 
to go into a tick-infested county — we think too much of the live 
stock; I speak here only of Mississippi, because there is no 
parish traversed by our line in Louisiana that is yet free from 
the cattle tick, and I regret that. Dr. Dalrymple, however, tells 
me that two or three of the parishes will be free in a few months, 
and when that time comes the Illinois Central will be right here 
with the bulls to co-operate with you, too ; that is, if you want us to. 

Now, again speaking of those who should help themselves. 
We have pictured the importance of the dairy cow and the dairy 
business. By this time we realize that live stock is its most im- 
portant division. That brings the first cash, then the hog and 
the poultry, and following with the steer and sheep. I am glad 
sheep has been mentioned here today, because we know that 
animal should be on those lands in great numbers in this part of 
the country. 

This matter of education, gentlemen, you observe, changes 
everything; and right here, gentlemen, don't think for a mo- 
ment that I make any reflection upon the people of this terri- 
tory. I want rather to congratulate the people on the progress 
they have made in the last three or four years, and that, now 
you have a compulsory law, that by 1918 the cattle tick will be 
a thing of the past, is something that you are to be congratulated 
upon. (Applause.) Any community on our lines, from Southern 
Illinois to Louisiana, where they will organize the bankers, and 
business men and have the farmers purchase dairy cows from out- 
side the state, the Illinois Central railroad will furnish the sires. 
That is helping those who help themselves. I say from outside 
the state. I don't think it is along the lines of progress for Tan- 
gipahoa Parish to sell cattle to West Feliciana. I do think it 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



53 



Association 



is important to bring in good cows from the outside of your 
state. I assure you that we will not purchase a bull from any 
part of Mississippi to send it to any other part of that state. 
We demonstrate the importance of new cattle by taking in cattle 
from outside territory, and then you are starting immiediately 
with new cattle. 

I state this to show you what we have done and what we 
are doing in a spirit of co-operation. The railroads are a great 
factor in this work, and on this cut-over pine land proposition, 
and I sincerely hope that before the deliberations conclude, the 
interested delegates will organize a plan along conservative lines 
that will be so attractive that it will be simply impossible for 
any interested party, including the railroads, to get away from 
participating and doing their full share in carrying out such a 
plan. The railroads of this country have an organization known 
as the Railway Development Association, and will have its annual Promises Aid 
meeting at Louisville, May 9-10-11, and the Secretary of that ^f K^ijivay 
Association, Mr. Welty, is present. I am glad to say that we 
represent 90 per cent, of the railroad mileage of this country, 
including Canada — and I might say Miexico, or we used to — and 
we would certainly enjoy having anybody attend that meeting 
who is desirous of our co-operation in the movement you have 
under way now. Secretary Vrooman told Mr. Welty and myself 
today that he would endeavor to be with us at that time. 

Now, this Railway Development Association, gentlemen, 
represents the Agricultural, Industrial and Immigration Depart- 
ments of the various roads, and you will readily understand from 
that that we are very much interested in everything pertaining 
to development. We don't claim any special credit for what the 
Illinois Central has done ; we are not in this for philanthropy ; 
we have a selfish motive. We realize that as the country develops 
the road develops, and therefore we are desirous of doing our full 
share and part in the general development work. I want to say 
to you people of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and 
Texas, and the whole South, that we have, in our general pas- 
senger waiting room in Chicago, an exhibit of the kinds of soils 
and pictures of the most progressive farms in this Mississippi 
Valley. 

Allusion has been made to the land man. If there is anybody 
I am prejudiced against, it is the land man, and in order to protect 
him and myself and the would-be homesteader, I am always frank 



54 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



to tell him so. I only wish the man, in selling land in the 

Southern Mississippi Valley, could appreciate this fact: That 

Make the when he conscientiously and to the best of his ability makes a 

Homesteader homesteader happy, he is making his best agent. Human nature 

Happy ig ^|-^g same all over, and when a man takes an interest in his 

home, that man is going to be an active agent from then on for 

that community. (Applause.) 

As I said in beginning, it is the development policy of the 
Illinois Central to co-operate in every way we can in the further 
development of the South ; and I hope the meeting will not close 
until some comprehensive, practicable plan has been brought 
about that we all can serve on, and do so with pleasure ; and I 
want to say that it will be a special pleasue of the Development 
Bureau at Chicago to point all the men we can this way ; and 
when you men have your plans ready, whether you are on the 
lines of the Illinois Central or not, please give me your infor- 
mation, the number of acres you have to sell, and at what price, 
and it will be my pleasure to co-operate with you people also ; 
because any part of the South, in helping itself, only helps the 
whole South and the Nation. (Applause.) 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 55 

The Practical Aspects of the 
Problem 

By Clement S. Ucker 

Vice-President, Southern Settlement and 
Development Organization 

Gentlemen of the Cut-Over Land Conference : I am some- 
what in the position of the gentleman who so very ably presided 
over your deliberations yesterday — I am^ under the necessity of 
introducing myself, and I proceed to so do without further com- 
ment. 

The program this morning provides, as prepared by the 
Program Committee, for a few remarks from myself under the 
general head of "The Practical Aspects of the Problem." In view 
of the fact that I have been called upon to preside, I will take this 
opportunity to say what I have to say to you on this initial 
occasion. 

The week before last, we had a conference of this kind at 
Wilmington, N. C. A gentleman of national reputation was about 
to address the conference, and another man, of more or less 
national reputation, was delivering an address. The man who 
was about to speak was sitting with me on the platform, and 
I noticed that from time to time he drew his chair nearer to 
the front. After probably fifteen minutes, he backed away, stuck 
his manuscript in his pocket, and turned to me and said, "That 
man has made my speech." That is pretty largely the position of 
myself. All that I might say to you about the practical aspects of 
this problem was either touched upon yesterday, or will be today ; 
and whatever I might say to you now in the limited time at my 
command is largely of a superficial character. 

However, there are some thoughts I want to leave with you. 
On yesterday we listened with absorbing interest to the address 
made to you by the Commissioner of the United States Land 
Office. The one point in his address that stood out most promi- 
nently to me was the fact that in the public domain, in the far 
western country, wherever there has been thrown open to the 
settlers lands that certainly could not be of much greater value 



56 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Cut-Over 
Lands Must 
Be Made 
Assimilable 



South' s 
Advantages 
Little Known 



than these lands now under consideration would have, they were 
promptly absorbed by the public ; all of which brings us to this 
one thought — why is it, that at this late day, this vast area of 
land still remains? It seems to me there are two reasons, two 
main underlying reasons ; one of them is perhaps the fact that 
these lands are not in what I choose to call assimilable form. 
They have not been put into condition ; they have not been given 
that finished touch that, after all, may be necessary to cause their 
assimilation. You will remember that Mr. Tallman on yesterday 
pointed out to you that there were areas — and I know of my own 
knowledge of areas in the west — in Western Nebraska, as I recall 
it, where lands were offered for settlement for years, and Con- 
gress changed the form, increased the area and terms and condi- 
tions, and promptly the land was absorbed. Therefore, it seems 
to me in all probability, that these lands are not in assimilable 
form ; that perhaps those who have been engaged in the ex- 
ploitation of lands, engaged in colonization work, have not em- 
ployed the best and most comprehensive talent in developing 
those factors. 

The other outstanding fact, of which I am entirely convinced, 
is the fact that the public mind has not run in this direction. 
Ever since the Pilgrim Fathers left Massachusetts ; ever since 
the Cavaliers left the tidewater of Virginia or the Carolinas, there 
has been instilled into the minds of the people that westward 
lay the great opportunities ; and there has never been concerted 
action to instill into the minds of the people that there were 
great and equal opportunities in the Southern country. So it 
seems to me that is, after all, one of the very important factors, 
if not the most important factor — publicity — instilling into the 
minds of the people the facts as they are and that there are op- 
portunities in this lower Southern land. A single effort cannot 
bring that about. A single corporation, no matter how much 
financial backing it may have, no matter what talent it may have, 
cannot bring it about, because the task is too gigantic and be- 
cause it requires too long a sustained effort ; and what may be 
true of that is also true of every other single agency, whether it 
be transportation lines, whether it be part of a state, or whether 
it be the individual effort of the land-owning and land-financing 
corporation. 

After all, gentlemen, there are, as I see it, four factors that 
go to make up a country. There are, transportation ; there are 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



57 



lands in adaptable form ; those two thing's, coupled with publicity, 
ought to give people. Now, it seems to me that the problem you 
gentlemen have before you, and which is no different in any 
single respect, save that of climate and location, from Western 
North Carolina or Eastern South Carolina, or South or Central 
Georgia, or Florida, or Eastern Texas — those great cut-over 
lands present the same problems ; and it seems to me that we 
will get down to this problem when we have effected some form 
of organization that makes the man who owns the thing we are 
trying to operate upon an interested fundamental part of the solu- 
tion of the problem, and when all other interests can rally around 
that basic effort : when the talents of the Federal government may 
be brought to bear; when the effort is proving itself to be one of 
broad, disinterested, national scope ; when the Federal govern- 
m.ent can join itself with the States, who, after all, must bear the 
brunt of this through their colleges and agricultural schools ; 
then, it seems, we will be a long way towards solving this 
problem ; and if that fails of solution, then it seems to me we 
will have to look to some source that we know not of in this 
day to bring about its solution. But so far as I am concerned, 
for the several years I have been connected with this problem, 
that represents my conclusion with respect to it — that the men 
who own the land; the men who have this thing; that the men 
who, in the trend of our affairs, find themselves with this thing 
upon their hands, have a very solemn duty to perform. As the 
public domain of the United States shall pass away, it seems to 
me the vital aspect of this problem increases. This land is in pri- 
vate ownership. The government does not own it; the States do 
not own it ; private individuals own it ; and from the aspect of a 
progressive, a solidified nation, it seems to me that it behooves 
those who own this land, together with all other agencies 
which may be interested in it, to do all they can to co-ordinate 
their efforts and to adopt a plan of action that will be able to 
command the support of all, and that will be continuing in its 
efforts. 

Gentlemen, this land represented here today covers an area 
embracing the eastern part of Texas, Arkansas, Southern Mis- 
souri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Western Georgia and 
Western Florida. We are very fortunate today in having with 
us the representative of one of these great states — a state that I 
am advised — a state that I know from my own personal knowl- 



Four Factors 
That Make a 
Country 



The Land 
Owner's Duty 
to the Nation 



58 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



edge — has, within a very remarkably short period of time, made 
a remarkable progress in agricultural development. We are very 
fortunate in having with us the Chief Executive of that state, a 
man who has done a great work towards the accomplishment of 
the end I refer to. I have great pleasure, gentlemen, in intro- 
ducing to you, His Excellency, Governor Charles H. Brough, of 
Arkansas. (Applause.) 



Arkansas of 
the Past and 
of Today 



Natural Resources of the 

South — Arkansas as a 

Developing Factor 

By Hon. Charles H. Brough 

Governor of Arkansas 

Gentlemen of the Cut-Over Land Conference : I deeply ap- 
preciate the honor of the invitation extended to me by my 
friend, Mr. Putman, of the Southern Pine Association, to be 
present and deliver an address before this representative body 
of the captains of industry of the South ; men w^ho are building 
more wisely than they know, 

"Men who are broad-backed, brown-handed, upright as the pines. 
And by the scale of a hemisphere shape their designs." 

You have heard a great deal, my friends, about the Arkansas 
of the past — the Arkansas traveler, wearing his coonskin cap 
and coming to the forked roads, not knowing which fork to 
take. I want to tell you gentlemen from Louisiana and Missis- 
sippi and the other Southern states tliat there is a new Arkansas 
at the present time — an Arkansas with an empire of vision in 
her brain. New York has been called the Empire State of the 
American Union because New York is the richest state in the 
American Union. New York can boast of the roseate hue pf 
her apples and the amber of her fields of wheat; Arkansas can 
boast that her apples have captured the First Prize at the 
last six International Expositions, and the largest apple ever 
placed on exhibition in the world was an apple raised by a 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 59 



Benton County farmier, three and a half miles from Sulphur 
Springs, which weighed 29^ ounces. (Applause.) New York 
can point to the beautiful tint of her cherry blossoms ; Arkansas 
can boast of the state of the famous Alberta peaches that nestle 
in the snow-white virginity of her soil ; and the only solid carload 
of peaches ever shipped abroad was shipped by an Arkansas agri- 
culturist from the greatest peach orchard in the world, located 
in Pike and Howard Counties, Arkansas. New York has only 
a small mineral belt ; Arkansas claims 18 counties of her state 
that hold valuable deposits of anthracite coal ; and it may be in- 
teresting to know, in this day of our nation's crisis, when we are 
dependent upon the United States Navy to maintain the freedom 
of the high seas, that the smokeless coal now used by the United 
States Navy is mined in Sebastian County Arkansas. Arkansas 
ranks first in production of ash, cottonwood and red gum ; third 
in products of hickory and oak ; and fifth in the production of 
pine in the United States. 

We have at present about three million acres of cut-over 
timber in our state, and within ten years this amount will un- 
doubtedly increase to approximately ten million acres, represent- 
ing approximately, then, one-eighth of the total cut-over land 
surface of the Southern states, on the basis of 76 million acres. 

Now, my friends, we join with our sister Southern states in 
believing that the time has come for a great industrial renaissance 
for economic development in our state ; and because of this fact 
our Legislature has recently appropriated about two million dol- 
lars to meet the terms of the Smith-Lever Bill, for carrying the 
doctrine of agricultural extension into our state. We appropriated 
$2,240,000 at the last session of the Legislature to meet the 
terms of the Good Roads Bill, which will network our state with 
roads and construct about three thousand miles of improved 
roads within the next five years. We are the third state in the 
Union to be completely freed of the great evil of the cattle tick, 
having made Arkansas a state-wide free cattle tick state, ranking 
with Mississippi and Tennessee. We have appropriated $50,000 
to enforce the provisions of this Act. We have begun to realize, 
my friends, that the foundation of all educational progress, the 
foundation of all moral progress, is economic development. I am 
rather heterodox when I make this statement, my friends ; but I 
don't believe a people can be thoroughly intelligent, I don't be^ 
lieve they can be thoroughly moral, I don't believe they can live 



Wonderful 
Products of 
the Field and 
Mine 



State and 
Nation Co- 
operate in 
Economic 
Development 



60 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Type of 
People Best 
Suited to 
Develop Cut- 
Over Lands 



South Des- 
tined to Be 
Nation's 
Industrial 
Empire 



up to the highest ideals of educational advancement, unless they 
have a bedrock of economic prosperity. 

After all, industrial prosperity is the rock upon w^hich this 
republic rests and upon which our South rests today, and the 
greatest problem, social and political, which is before you today 
is the problem of scientific agriculture — the problem of the colo- 
nization and improvement of these cut-over lands in the South 
(applause) — the problem of the foundation of the economic 
structure reared by human toil and held firmly in place by the 
average prosperity of all who have helped in its building. We 
think this average prosperity exists whenever there is a great 
middle class in our society — not a domain where the tenets of 
socialism exist, but where the people are all animated by loyalty 
to a common flag and a common country. (Applause.) A great 
French philosopher has said that civilization is like beer — froth at 
the top, dregs at the bottom, and the substantial part in between. 
Show me a nation or a section that has a great middle class of 
people and I will show you a nation and a section that is ma- 
terially prosperous, that is educationally progressive, and that is 
morally what it should be. 

We need to develop, therefore, our 76 million acres of cut- 
over timber land in the South, in order to build up a new South — 
neither the top of society on the one hand, nor the submerged 
tint on the other hand^ — but to flood the South with a great 
middle class of people, of people not tenants but landlords, and 
of people economically self-sufiicient. Now, it is estimated by 
the distinguished gentleman who addressed you yesterday, who 
delivered such a brilliant address at Little Rock on Monday 
night, that of the 76 million acres of cut-over land, fully 15 
million acres will have no second growth, and therefore are 
thoroughly adaptable to colonization. I congratulate the great 
railway systems of the South, and the great colonization systems 
of the South, that they are fully alive to the immensity and im- 
portance of this problem, and that they are utilizing their ac- 
tivities and their publicity bureaus in order to stimulate an im- 
migration to this greatest of all undeveloped sections of our 
country. The South, my friends — and I know there are delegates 
here from other sections of the country, but I believe they will 
bear me out — the South is destined to be the great industrial 
empire of the American nation. The M'iddle West, the West, 
and the East have shown a wonderfully progressive spirit, but 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 61 

their resources are well-nigh utilized. They have, to no great 
extent, these cut-over lands located w^ithin their borders, and the 
United States must look for its most progressive development 
in the future from the Southern states. At the same time, in this 
development, we should look to the East, the Middle West, and 
the West and absorb a great deal of their progressive spirit ; we 
should absorb their progressive spirit with reference to fine breeds 
of cattle. We have 500 million dollars worth of cattle in the 
South today, but I regret to say that a large proportion of it is 
common stock, stock that does not measure up to the best 
breeds; but the bankers and business men are rapidly introducing 
Herefords and Shorthorns and Angus and other cattle of a stand- 
ard breed ; and it is very interesting, my friends, in this connec- 
tion, to know that the champion bull of the United States was 
raised in my state — the Point Comfort the 14th — raised by Col- 
onel Miles ; sold two years ago for $300.00 and, after this bull 
won the First Prize at the Chicago International Stock Expo- 
sition, there was offered $25,000 for this animal. We are rapidly 
developing improved stock on all cut-over lands, and this will 
mean a wonderful improvement in our form of agriculture. We 
need but to absorb some of this spirit and some of this progres- 
sivism with reference to the cattle-raising industry from the d^jJ^c Kqw 
United States ; and it will help the bankers, also, because of the willing to 
6 billion dollars invested today in the live stock industry of the Loan Money 
United States, there are only one billion dollars' worth of loans on Cattle 
based on this six billion dollar live stock industry. Heretofore, 
our bankers have required our stockmen to mortgage their lands 
and homes, and almost their wives and children, in order to get a 
loan on stock ; but since the organization of the Federal Reserve 
System, and since cattle is now regarded as a liquid asset by 
bankers, on which loans can be made, a great opportunity opens 
up to the bankers and business men of the country to float a 
larger proportion of loans on the stock and cattle of the South. 

As Mr. Vrooman told you yesterday — for I judge he called 
attention to this point — we are confronted with a mighty problem 
today in the South. We are importing from five to six hundred 
million dollars of foodstuffs each year. Cotton is still king in 
the South, and by virtue of the splendid prices we have been re- 
ceiving for cotton in the past three years, cotton is more firmly 
intrenched than ever before ; but, my friends, the time has come, 
in connection with this great war, and in connection with our in- 



62 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The South's 
Duty to the 
Nation and to 
Itself 



The 

Lumberman's 
Opportunity 



dustrial development, when a large proportion of these cut-over 
lands in the South should be used for raising- cereals, and legumes, 
and foodstuffs of all kinds. An army travels on its belly, is an 
old saying; but the boy in the furrow can render just as patriotic 
service to the United States Government as the soldier on the 
battlefield. I doubt very much, indeed, whether more than a 
division of American troops will be sent to Europe ; for they 
tell us that it requires thirteen months to prepare an army. 
Roosevelt may be sent over with a regiment to take its place out 
there in the trenches, to plant Old Glory alongside the Tri-color of 
France, (applause) in order that we may return our gratitude 
to France for the gift of Lafayette and Rochambeau, those great 
French soldiers, during the Revolutionary War; but with the 
exception of a division or two it is not likely that an army will 
be sent to Europe during this international war; but we will be 
expected to feed our Allies ; we will be expected to send great 
convoys of ships to the Allies ; and we will be expected to feed 
ourselves. My own state last year imported 65 million dollars' 
worth of foodstuffs ; and yet in Arkansas we say that a wall of 
isolation could be erected around our state and that we could be 
self-sufficing and independent — and yet the startling fact stares 
us in the face that last year we imported 65 millions of foodstuffs 
in one state, and about 600 million dollars of foodstuffs in the 
thirteen Southern states. 

Now, my friends, we should preach a diversified agriculture ; 
we should preach the planting of cereals and legumes and soy 
beans and clover crops of all kinds ; because the crops of the 
West are going to be commandeered by the United States govern- 
ment ; and, as Mr. Vrooman said, we must either feed ourselves 
or we must go hungry. Now, the great lumber men of the 
South — and there are thousands of them within my own state of 
Arkansas — have a glorious opportunity in this respect. Fully 
70 per cent, of these lands are rather favorably located within 
a short distance of railroads. Colonization plans could be made 
most attractive for the settler from the older sections of the 
country ; and the experiment stations will co-operate with the 
railroads and the lumbermen and with the other agencies for 
industrial development of the South in attracting" settlers to these 
cut-over lands. Aside from this, my friends, as long as the cut- 
over lands remain in their present state there is not only a great 
economic waste to the South as individuals, but there is a great 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



63 



economic waste to the State itself. For instance, when the timber 
was standing on these lands, these lands were found on the tax 
books at about $18.00 an acre ; now they are at about $2.00 an 
acre. Look what the State of Arkansas loses on three million 
acres assessed at only $2.00 an acre, and I take it that this is true 
also of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and others of the Southern 
states. There is a direct economic loss out of the revenues due 
the Southern states, to say nothing of the economic waste to the 
South as an industrial section ; and so we are going to make an 
appeal, ni}^ friends, for these lands to be offered to settlers at 
attractive prices. I am going to get in touch with John IL Page, 
our Commissioner of Agriculture, along these lines, and with the 
University and Experiment Stations, the University of Arkansas 
and the Agricultural Colleges of our state, and see that exper- 
iments are conducted on these cut-over lands designed to attract 
settlers ; and I believe that in this way, within the next year, we 
can certainly feed ourselves and we can certainly lay the founda- 
tions for a great industrial empire. 

In connection with the stock industry of the United States, 
I trust that at this meeting of the Cut-Over Land Conference a 
resolution will be adopted, petitioning our great President — than 
whom, in my humble opinion, no greater President has ever sat 
in the presidential chair, combining as he does, the patriotism of 
a Washington, the philosophy of a Thomas Jefferson, the con- 
structive ability of an Alexander Hamilton, the sweet charity 
of an Abraham Lincoln, the judicial temperament of a Wil- 
liam Howard Taft, and the energy of a Theodore Roosevelt — 
greatest men who ever occupied the presidential chair (applause) 
— that a resolution will be passed at this session of the Confer- 
ence petitioning the President of the United States to admit, 
free of all import duties, cattle from the Latin-American coun- 
tries to our Gulf ports, in order that the South may have the 
best breeds of cattle, and in order that these cut-over lands, which 
are admirably adapted for pasturage, may be supplied with the 
very best breeds of cattle from the Latin-American countries. I 
believe this would be a great constructive measure that could be 
passed by the Cut-Over Land Conference. 

My friends, there is an inscription on a monument in Atlanta, 
Georgia, erected to Benjamin H. Hill, which reads: 

"Who loves his country, loves all things, 
And all things will bless him ; 



Economic 
Waste in 
Present 
Situation 



Arkansas to 
Begin Cut- 
Over Land 
Experimental 
Work at Once 



Latin-Amer- 
ican Cattle 
Suggested to 
Stock South- 
ern Farms 



64 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



America 
Seen as De 



Who lets his country die, lets all things die, 
And all things dying, curse him." 

If these words, written on the monument of Benjamin H. 
Hill, in Atlanta, Georgia, be true, then it is incumbent upon us, 
as the sons of noble American sires, to put our shoulders to the 
wheel to develop the great American empire that we have at our 
disposal today. I have no fear of the result of this present Euro- 
pean War. I believe the entrance of the United States is the de- 
ciding factor in the scale of this War. I have always believed 
in the prophecy shown in the Book of Revelations, and I think it 
aiding Factor is literally true — in the Book of Revelations we read : "A woman 
in the War shall go forth in a wilderness and upon a barren rock shall give 
birth to a child, and that child shall one day rule the world." 
In 1620, our forefathers, driven by constitutional oppression, left 
Mother England in the Mayflower. On December 20, 1620, that 
Mayflower reached Plymouth Rock, and there, on a barren rock, 
in the wilderness of North America, was born the child of these 
United States ; and who, in this intelligent and patriotic audience 
before me today, doubts for one moment that that child today 
rules the world? (Applause.) 

"Not for our own land is Freedom's flag unfurled, 
but for world." 

Aside from our economic development, in which we cannot 
compare with either Germany, France or England, the United 
States today has the most remarkable form of government on the 
face of the globe. Mr. Gladstone, England's greatest statesman, 
once said that the American Constitution was the most remark- 
able document that ever sprung from the brain of man. 

"America takes but to give again. 

As the sea returns her water in rain. 

So she gathers her seed from the haunted of every crown and 

creed. 
Her Germany dwells by the gentler Rhine, 
Her Ireland sees the old sunburst shine. 
Her Norway still clings to the mountain pines ; 
And broad-based under all is England's broken-hearted mood, 
As rich in fortitude as ever went from her island wall. 
Fused into her candid light. 
All races here to one great race unite. 



America's 
Greatness 
Recognized 
Abroad 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 65 

Hereditary foemen forget their slogan, kith and clan. 

'Twas once glory to be a Roman, 

America makes it a glory now to be a man." (Applause.) 

And then, my friends, while, as I have said, the economic 
development of our country is not parallel with the economic de- 
velopment of Germany, France or England, it must be remem- 
bered that we are today the only great exporting nation of the 
world^ — the United States and the Argentine Republic. There 
were, in the last fifty years, only three great exporting nations — 
the United States, Russia and Argentine Republic ; but since 
the entrance of Russia into the war, the United States and Ar- 
gentine Republic remain the only two great exporting nations of 
the world. 

To show the wonderful resources we have at our disposal, 
a brilliant writer on the Pall Mall Gazette, England's leading 
paper, paid a rather humorous but effective tribute to the abso- 
lute dependence of the average Englishman upon the United 
States for everything the Englishman eats, drinks and wears. 
He said — in the morning the Englishman gets out from between 
his New England sheets, shaves with Williams' soap and a Yan- 
kee safety razor ; adjusts his Kentucky suspenders on trousers 
manufactured in Massachusetts ; slips on his shoes manufactured 
in St. Louis over socks manufactured in North Carolina, and 
goes down to breakfast. 

The breakfast of the Englishman consists of some beefsteak 
from a middle western cow, while his wife plays with a piece 
of Chicago ox tongue, and his children amuse themselves by 
eating some cereals or rolled oats from the Middle West. The 
Englishman then goes to his office. At his' office he finds every- 
thing is American. He sits down on a Nebraska swivel chair 
before a Michigan roll top desk ; writes his letters on an Under- 
wood, Smith Premier, Remington, Caligraph, Oliver, Royal or 
other typewriter of American make, and signs his letters with a 
Waterman, Paul E. Wirt or Parker fountain pen, all made in the 
United States ; and puts his letters away in a letter file made by 
the Macey file Company, of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He then 
goes out to lunch. His lunch consists of some roast beef taken 
from the same middle western cow; flavored with some Pitts- 
burgh pickles; and tops it all off with some canned peaches from 
old Arkansas. (Applause.) 



66 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Country's 
Amazing 
Economic 
Resources 



And so, the economic resources of our country are tremend- 
ous. If the wealth of 285 billion dollars were equally divided 
amongst us, we are told by the great economists that there would 
be $1,385 to the credit of every man, woman and child in the 
Figures Show United States. In spite of the fact that we do 96 per cent, of our 
business on credit, by the use of checks and other forms of ex- 
change, there is in actual circulation in the United States $38.40 
for every man, woman and child in the United States. Our 285 
thousand miles of railway represent three-fifths of the railway 
mileage of the world, of which the South has approximately 
50,000 miles; and our freight rate today of three-quarters of one 
cent for carrying one ton one mile is the cheapest freight rate in 
the world. 

But, my friends, in spite of this great economic development, 
in spite of our wonderful form of government, we have not 
adopted the scientific form of intensive agriculture that is prac- 
ticed in Germany, in France and in England today. We have not 
utilized our forests. Why, the substitution by Germany of 
forest products instead of cotton, instead of nitroglycerine, and 
instead of cotton absorbents, shows the value of the proper util- 
ization of the forest supplies, and this has enabled Germany- — our 
great enemy in this war — to wage the war with so much ferocity 
up to the present time. It is her scientific training, her prepared- 
ness, her efficiency. 

But I rejoice, my friends — and I say this with due respect 
to our German-Americans, for I believe they are going to be 
loyal to Old Glory during this war ; I believe every one of them 
will be loyal — I rejoice, however, that in the U'nited States we 
have the ideal of character, while in Germany they have the 
ideal of eflficiency. In Germany a man is simply a cog in an 
organization, and he is worked just as much as a cog would be 
worked in any kind of a machine. In the United States the 
ideal is of character. What we need in the United States, and par- 
ticularly in the South is the blending of the two ideals — character 
and efficiency. Our men are a high-toned men, who wear their 
consciences as their kings, and wear the white flower of blameless 
private and public lives. Character is one of our inheritances; 
but, my friends, we lack the ideal of efficiency in the South. If 
we could but blend the two ideals of character and efficiency in 
our American civilization, and particularly in our Southern civil- 
ization, we would have a character fashioned that would pass all 



American vs. 

German 

Ideals 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 67 

nations in the formulation of their national design. I therefore 
appeal to these captains of industry of the South and the Middle 
West, who are represented here today, in developing these great 
cut-over lands to go out and, in your colonization plans and in 
the management of your industrial work, preach the gospel of 
blending the two ideals of character and efficiency. I beseech 
you to preach the gospel that the South should feed herself ; that 
we should be a self-sufficing section, rather than an importing 
section. I beseech you to go out and to use your means — for most 
of you are men of means and influence— to better the condition of Combine 
our rural population. Eighty-seven per cent, of the population of a^acter 
the South live in places smaller than 2,500 ; and they, after all, are j^fficiencu 
the saving remnants of our economic civilization. I beseech you 
not to pursue a selfish policy with reference to putting your cut- 
over lands on the market, to sell them on reasonable terms, at 
good terms of credit. I appeal to such live citizens as, my friends, 
Mr. Putman, who has been honored by being made Advertising 
Manager of the Southern Pine Association ; Mr. Ucker and other 
distinguished gentlemen, the editors of all the trade journals, to 
present before the people of the United States the great economic 
possibilities of these cut-over lands. 

My friends, we have a new South today. Let it be a new 
South in every way. God grant that the traditions of the old may 
prove an incentive to the progress of the new. God grant that 
you and I, in our respective spheres of life, may see to it that 
our wonderful undeveloped resources are developed ; that the 
forests, that like giants stand to sentinel our land, are properly 
conserved ; and then we may say with the poet : 

"Henceforth, oh Southland, we look up to thee, 
Not down at other lands. 
Arise, arise, be not proud. 
Be humble and be wise. 
And bow thy head to the 
Great Unknown One, who on high 
Hath willed that as a land 
Dixie shall never die !" (Applause.) 



68 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Natural Ad- 
vantages of 
the South 



Lands of the 
West and 
North 



Soils oftke Coastal Plains Area 

By C. F. Marbut 

In Charge, Soil Survey, Bureau of Soils, 
United States Department 
of Agriculture 

Mr. Chairman : It is one of my social theories that if we could 
fill every man's belly and cover his back we would solve most of the 
social problems. I am perfectly willing to say that this is just like 
most sweeping statements, but it contains, nevertheless, a certain 
amount of truth. The question of filling bellies and covering backs 
is partly, at least, a question of soil. The soil is at least one factor, 
and an important one in doing both. 

The South is very much favored in its wonderful climate, in 
its abundant rainfall, its warm winters, its long growing seasons, 
and in the great variety of crops which that climate permits it to 
grow. In other parts of the United States, as was so clearly 
brought out by Commissioner Tallman yesterday, the available land 
is pressing pretty close up to the possibility of crop production on 
that land. I have had some connection with the classification of 
lands in the national forests, and many times within the last three 
years I have recommended to the chief of the Bureau of Soils and 
the chief of the office of Forest Reserves, the opening up for settle- 
ment of tracts of land which I knew positively could not ripen a 
wheat crop. It was perfectly evident that a wheat crop could not 
be ripened on it because of its Northern location, or its high altitude. 
Yet, that land is sought by a great number of people, and because of 
the strong demand for that land, and because of the fact that the 
soil is good, and because also of the fact that the land will grow 
grain hay in a region where summer grazing is important, it will 
probably enable the farmer to make a living, especially if it is 
carried on in conjunction with grazing in the national forests in the 
summer time. I make the preceding statement merely as an illus- 
tration of the kind of land now being taken up by settlers in the far 
West and North. In the South no such climatic conditions exist. 
There are tremendous areas of smooth unoccupied land in the South 
where the growing season is long. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



69 



The Southern part of the United States is an area widely 
different from any other area of the same size, either in Europe, 
Asia or Africa. The position in Europe that corresponds to the 
Southern part of the United States is mainly mountain land, and 
only a very little of it is open to utilization by man. The same 
thing is true of Asia and that part of Africa that corresponds 
climatically to the Southern Coastal Plain of the United States is 
largely a desert. Fortunately the desert in America corresponding 
to the desert in Africa happens to lie in the Gulf of Mexico where 
it doesn't do any harm. We have a region here that is smooth in 
topography, has a high rainfall and climate favorable to agriculture. 

The character of the soil in any place at any time is due to two 
fundamental things. This is a rather general statement, but will 
enable us to get to the point. One is the character of the material 
from which the soil came. The other is what has happened to that 
material since it began to exist as a soil. The main thing that in- 
fluences a soil after it has been formed is the climate. The way 
climate influences that soil is largely through the action of water, 
and where rainfall is very heavy leaching goes on at a rather heavy 
rate. Furthermore, the leaching or soluble effect of the water is 
increased in its effect by high temperature, so that in a region where 
the annual temperature is high and the rainfall heavy, the soil soon 
becomes thoroughly leached. What does that mean ? It means that 
the soluble material in those soils has been carried away and taken 
to the sea. It means also that a large part of the minerals in that 
soil, those that are easily decomposible, have been decomposed, 
and the salts of which they are composed have been taken out of 
the soil. That is just the condition that exists in a large part of the 
South. We have here a region of high rainfall, a region of long 
summers, a region of warm winters, during which the soil does not 
freeze ; during which, therefore, the rain can act upon che soil all 
the time, both summer and winter. The result is that Southern 
soils are pretty well leached. The result is that a large part of the 
soluble constituents in that soil is carried out, taken away and 
carried to sea. These soils differ very much from the soils of the 
wide plains of the West, for example, where the soluble material, 
at least in places, is so high on account of the great abundance of 
that material, that plants cannot grow. We call it alkali, but it is 
nothing more than an excess of soluble material in the soil. We 
have just opposite of that condition of things in the Southern and 
Southeastern part of the United States. These soils, especially the 



Climate's 
Influence in 
Soil-Making 



Tremendous 
Possibilities 
of Long 
Growing 
Seasons 



70 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

mineral salts, were washed out long ago, and now in addition to 
those things being gone, the minerals have been extensively decom- 
posed and their constituents carried away. To illustrate that I will 
call your attention to a table of Southern soils I have here. 

I have used here the names we use in the Bureau of soils classi- 
fication ; and I have given the percentages of potash and lime and 
silica. Of course, silica is not one of the elements of fertility. The 
Orangeburg Sandy Loam, which is an important soil in Western 
Georgia, in Central Alabama and Eastern Mississippi, and quite an 
important soil also in Central Louisiana, and also in Texas (but not 
very' abundantly in Texas), has 1/10 of 1 per cent of potash. Soils 
in other areas will contain 2 or 3 per cent. This contains 1/10 of 
1 per cent. What I want to point out to you is that the Southern 
soils are pretty well leached through natural conditions — not due to 
Southern agriculture. The farmer has not leached them out. Nature 
did it. It is the result of natural processes. It is a condition that 

*!. ifr" \t^ the Southern landowner and farmer must meet. How does Nature 
the Northern , r- , . r i • •, i- • i • i i 

Farmer compensate the Southern farmer for this soil condition which she 

has given him? The compensation lies in just what I mentioned 

first, in the tremendous advantage that the Southern farmer has in 

his climate. The settlers who take up land in the high mountains of 

the West and North find it absolutely impossible to lengthen their 

growing season one day. They find it impossible to increase their 

rainfall 1/10 of 1 inch. They must meet conditions that they cannot 

change. The Southern farmer, however, is not in that position. He 

is not under the necessity of resigning himself to the soil conditions 

established for him by nature. Since his soil deficiency is merely 

one of soluble mineral matter, and a supply of organic matter they 

may be supplied by him. The great development of the fertilizer 

industry within the last fifty years has made it possible for the 

Southern farmer to purchase an abundant supply of mineral 

fertilizer for his soil, while his climate favors the rapid utilization 

of all organic matter that he puts into it. 

The Southern farmer labors under a slight disadvantage in the 
nature of his soils. He basks in the favor of the tremendously 
advantageous climate and is able to overcome the disadvantage of his 
soils by the use of fertilizers, which are not extremely expensive. 
That is essentially the situation so far as the character of Southern 
soils is concerned. 

There is another factor in the handling of soils in agriculture, 
with which agriculture has to contend — and that is the question of 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



71 



Plain Region 
Smooth 



topography. I don't mean elevation necessarily ; that comes in as a 
part of the climate ; but I mean the local relief of the country, that 
character of the country which says you can either use machinery 
or you cannot — you can use this land for crops or for pasture. I 
have no map here showing the characteristics of the topography 
of Southern soils, but I will use these maps ; and do not let the 
coloring of these maps divert you from what I am saying; because 
this coloring does not represent topography at all. 

In general I will say that the topography of the coastal plain 
is, as a whole, smooth. It lies low and the topography is smooth ; Topography 
but that does not mean that it is flat ; and there are certain areas in of Coastal 
which the topography is as complex and in which it influences 
agriculture as much as in the Rocky Mountain region. 

In Alabama the edge of the coloring here represents the interior 
part of the coastal plain. That is not coastal plain country, and 
since this Conference is concerned with coastal plain country only, 
that represents the northern edge of the country we are considering 
(pointing to map). Along the edge of the coastal plain is a region 
where the topography is pretty rough in detail. It is relatively high ; 
there is abundant rainfall, and that has enabled the streams to cut 
it up pretty thoroughly. There is quite a percentage of that country 
that is too rough for cultivation. Then through this belt is the 
Black Belt and low belt of Alabama. When I say black I apply 
that to the soil and not to the people. It happens though that both ^J^^^ ^^^^ ^^ 
soil and people are largely black in that belt. Running just about 
south of it is a belt of rough country where the country rises sud- 
denly from the lowland of the black belt, and then southward slopes 
gradually down to the sea. The North- South coastal plain profile 
w^ould begin at the North with rough country, and then would fol- 
low a low smooth belt, and then suddenly it would rise to an 
elevation of two hundred feet above that region and slope thence 
gradually to the sea. In addition to these rough belts there are 
others along each side of all the larger streams. 

In between the country is smooth. Down in this region it is all 
so low that it is relatively smooth. 

Taking this region as a whole it is a region of smooth country, 
and Florida is still smoother. 

In Mississippi the same rough belt exists just south of Meridian 
and extends inward a little way, but gradually fades out. The 
rim of it extends northward in this direction, flattening out as it 



Alabama 



72 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Mississippi 
and Louisiana 
From a 
Standpoint 
of Lands 



Arkansas Pre- 
sents Varied 
Character 
of Soils 



Erosion's 
Effect on 
Soil Fertility 



goes, and a little less broken in this region. Then, along the western 
side of the State, there is a belt of country which is relatively high, 
but is thoroughly cut to pieces by streams. This consists of the hill 
lands just east of the Delta. 

In Louisiana this region is all smooth, except along the eastern 
side, where it is cut up by streams flowing into the Mississippi. In 
this part of the State there is more or less rough land — possibly 10 
per cent — a little rough for cultivation under conditions of South- 
ern rainfall ; and going southward it slopes to smooth land down to 
the sea. 

In Arkansas we have two mountainous regions. By the way — 
the request that was extended to me by Mr. Moore of the Southern 
Pine Association, stated that they desired to discuss Arkansas as a 
whole — not simply the coastal plain part ; so I have colored the 
whole state. There is a mountainous belt in this region, just south 
of the Arkansas River lowland, a high plateau belt in the northern 
part, and a high limestone region in the extreme northern part. 
The eastern part of the State is low. In the mountain regions, by 
no means, is all of the land too rough to cultivate. The rough 
topography consists of certain minor ridges which are high and 
steep with intervening lowlands, two, three and four miles in width, 
all of which are now cultivated to a great extent and which will be 
more cultivated in the future. The North Central part of the State, 
on the other hand, consists of a high plateau except where valleys 
have been cut into it. The northern edge drops off steeply. The 
southern edge also has a narrow belt of rough country. In general 
it is a high plateau. 

In Texas we include only a small portion of the eastern part 
of the State. In the northern part there is a good deal of relatively 
rough land. Then, as you go southward, the country gradually 
slopes off to a smooth plain at sea level. 

Probably 15 to 20 per cent of the coastal plain lands of the 
South are rather too rough for cultivation under existing condi- 
tions here. What are those conditions? Warm winters which do 
not freeze the soil, and thereby expose it to erosion throughout 
twelve months of the year ; high rainfall ; the absence of thick grass 
over the timber land as well as the fields ; the South being charac- 
teristically a region of no grass. The Southern farmer, therefore, 
has to contend with the two unfavorable conditions of a pretty 
well leached soil, and a soil which erodes easily. 



The Dawn of a New Constructiv e Era 73 

The colors of these charts show the percentage of undeveloped 

or unimproved land worked out from census data. This represents 

nothing but a compilation made from the census reports. This 

darker color represents an area where 80 to 90 per cent is unim- . ,. , 

^r. ^r , . ^rx or> Tr ^u ui 1 Lands io to 

proved ; this represents 60 to 65 ; and here 60 to 80. If the black ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ 

belt could be sorted out from this belt we would have in the black unimproved 
belt an area where there is very little land not cultivated ; but since 
the statistics are given according to counties, and since each county 
includes this land plus the land lying outside of the black belt, I was 
unable to get the percentage of unimproved land in the black belt. 
In Mississippi, in the southeastern part of the state, there is 
rather a large area, of which, according to the census reports more 
than 90 per cent is unimproved. Another belt 80 to 90; m this 
region 60 to 80 ; and here two areas are essentially the same 45 to 
65, 50 to 65. 

In Louisiana the unimproved area lies in the southwestern 
part of the state. More than 90 per cent of the area is unim- 
proved, and a large part of that is quite smooth land. Here are 
two areas where 80 to 90 and 65 to 80 is unimproved; and over 
here is an area where a large part is unimproved, and becomes less 
and less as we go northward. 

In Arkansas, there is no county — there are parts of the state- 
but no whole county where more than 90 per cent is unimproved. 
There are plenty of areas — small areas — where more than 90 per 
cent is unimproved, but no single county, so that the lowest per- 
centage of unimproved land there is 80 to 90 per cent, and then, 
lying along the other side of that, we have land which has a higher 
percentage of unimproved. 

There are two centers in Arkansas with a similarity in unim- 
proved land ; one in the Southern mountain region ; the other 
in the high plateau of the North, extending beyond the sand stone 
plateau over into the redlands of the North. 

In Texas you see a large area in the southeastern part of the 
state, which extends to the area in Louisiana, where more than 90 
per cent is unimproved. 

The white areas here represent level land ; it is not coastal plain^ 
and therefore not pine land ; and they are not taken into considera- 
tion. That is the level land of Arkansas ; in other words, it is not 
pine land. In Texas I only included a small part ; and in Alabama 
I included all the coastal plain, but the northern mountain region 



74 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Wide Scope 
of Southern 
Pine Associa- 
tion's Activi- 
ties 



Tlie Charac- 
ter of Unim- 
proved Lands 



Alabama's 
Uncultivated 
Millions of 
Acres 



was left out ; and in Mississippi the level plain and the northern 
part. 

These round dots show the location of the saw mills of the 
Southern Pine Association, compiled from a list sent me by Mr. 
Moore. I had a draftsman take the list and locate the mills on the 
maps. Since this is a discussion of the Southern Pine Association 
lands, you will notice that the areas which we discussed are the 
areas that include all of the saw mills, with the exception of two in 
the mountains of Alabama. 

The maps already shown were compiled from census data and 
does not undertake to show details. After that had been compiled 
then the question of the details of these different areas, details con- 
cerning the character of unimproved lands, was raised, and how 
such information could be displayed. The Soil Survey reports, so 
far as published, give details concerning the character, distribution 
and acreage of the various soils. For example, taking the report 
of this county, I can say, there are 967 acres of Orangeburg sandy 
loam in that county. The Soil Survey reports will show us, with 
great accuracy, the acreage of each soil type in the county surveyed. 
When a soil survey of a county is completed we have the data avail- 
able in great detail. The reports will state further the approximate 
percentage of any given soil remaining unimproved at the time the 
survey was made. That, of course, is an estimate, but is based 
upon the study of the man who went over the ground and saw 
every 40 or 10 acres of it. In fact, the Soil Survey man is sup- 
posed to see every foot of the ground. He does see the land so 
that he can form a very close estimate as to how much is cultivated 
and how much uncultivated. I took the survey reports therefore 
and compiled the data that they show, and that is shown in these 
charts I have here. I will begin with Alabama, the legend is placed 
up there. 

In Alabama nearly every county has been surveyed in detail, 
so that we have definite data for every county except three. These 
are the counties of the coastal plain of Alabama, with the exception 
of two or three. The bars on the chart represent, by their length, 
the total acreage of unimproved land in each county, and these 
figures up here represent the number of acres in figures. The 
vertical red lines across all the bars cut them up into lengths of 
100,000 acres each. You can see, therefore, that Baldwin county, 
for example, has 960,000 acres of land which is unimproved. Here 
in Lee County, for example, there is only 100,000 acres unimproved. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



75 



Sandy and 
Wet Lands; 
What They 



That means 100,000 acres of coastal plain. Some of Lee County 
is in the coastal plain and some in the mountains to the north, so 
that the bar for this county does not represent all the unimproved 
land. The yellow color represents sand, the blue color, wet and 
heavy lands, the uncolored, the sandy loam, and the red color, the 
rough and mountainous lands. The wet and heavy lands include 
all lands wet, or frequently overflowed and all soils heavier than 
loams. 

It is well known that sand has a certain adaptability to crops — 
that is — there are certain crops which you can grow on sand, and 
certain others which do not do well on such soil. There are certain 
other crops adapted to wet and heavy lands — lands that have an 
abundance of moisture; and certain other crops are adapted to 
sandy loams. I will venture to say that the wet and heavy lands 
of the South are probably the lands on which stock raising will de- 
velop in the future the best, because they are the lands on which Are Adapted 
forage crops and grasses will grow the best. The sandy loam ''^^• 
lands are lands wide in their range of adaptibility. They are well 
adapted to the growth of truck crops and cotton. Truck crops and 
cotton, then, are probably the best crops for the sands, forage crops 
for the wet and heavy lands, forestry for the rough lands, and gen- 
eral farm crops for the sandy loams. 

It is not necessary to take up in detail each of the individual 
counties, but I will call your attention to certain general character- 
istics of the several states. 

You will notice a considerable amount of yellow in the bars 
for the Alabama counties, showing the presence of a considerable 
amount of sand in Alabama. You will note also that the blue color 
representing the proportion of wet and heavy land is not extremely 
prominent. It is, however, in Clark County and Washington Coun- 
ty. Practically all of this land in Washington County is wet land 
and not heavy. There is a large amount of sand in Baldwin 
County. As you go north, the sandy loam makes up a larger pro- 
portion of the soils. In the northern part of the state the clays rep- 
resent a considerable proportion of the land, but it happens that all 
the clays are under cultivation and do not enter into this calculation. 

Next I will take Mississippi. Another factor enters there, and 
that is lack of knowledge. We know much less about the soils of 
Mississippi than of Alabama, because only a relatively small part of 
the state has been covered by soil surveys up to the present time. 



76 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



A solid colored bar represents a surveyed county, while a bar col- 
ored only in skeleton form represents an unsurveyed county where 
the proportions of the various kinds of lands given are based upon 
the character of the land in the nearest surveyed county, or upon 
the general knowledge we have acquired in our work in the state. 
We have gained more or less general knowledge of the character of 
soils in all parts of the United States, and that factor enters into 
this estimate. 

Without going over the counties in detail, I will call your at- 
tention to the absence of yellow — the nearly complete absence — in 
the soils of Mississippi. In these counties lying in the southeastern 
and eastern part of the state there is some sand. In the western 
part of the state, not including the delta, the blue color, you will 
notice, is very prominent. 

In other words, Mississippi is a state of rather heavy soils; 
that color represents both wet and heavy, but in Mississippi it rep- 
resents relatively heavy land, with very little wet land. It is prac- 
tically all silt loam. Mississippi is, therefore, a state of silt loams, 
Mississippi's well drained, as it happens in this case; a state, therefore, where 
Soils Largely the lands are adapted to forage crops. You will notice also that 
Silt Loams ^^g percentage of sandy loam is rather lower than in the case of 
Alabama, but not so high as in Louisiana, for example. You wil) 
notice also that the red is more prominent in Mississippi than in 
Alabama. There are more rough lands in Mississippi than in Ala- 
bama, but a great deal of this rough land shown here represents 
silt land also. It represents land that can be converted into pasture. 
You will notice again that Louisiana is not covered solid. We 
know relatively little about the details of Louisiana soils, except in 
a few places. We have surveyed Tangipahoa Parish in the east, 
Winn Parish in the northwest, Iberia in the southeast, East Baton 
Rouge, East Feliciana and Bienville, and recently surveyed Rapides, 
but the data for the latter is not yet available. You will notice that 
Louisiana the percentage of sand is low. The percentage of wet and heavy 

Rich in Sandy land is rather high. The percentage of rough land is also pretty 
Loams Jq^ ^Yhe blue color is especially prominent in counties east of the 

Mississippi — Tangipahoa, East and West Feliciana. You will notice 
also the percentage of sandy loams — which is a widely adaptable 
soil — is relatively high. That, like the others, is based on estimate, 
of course, but the estimate is based on the general knowledge we 
have — a good deal of general knowledge and the results obtained by 
the surveys in the nearest surveyed counties. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 77 

We have in Arkansas the whole of the state represented, ex- 
cept the lowlands, and it should be stated that the agricultural 
wealth of that state lies in its lowlands. I might say it is more or 
less of a misrepresentation of Arkansas to show merely its upland 
jaortion, a good deal of which is mountainous land, but you will 
notice the yellow is not present. You will notice the blue is quite 
prominent in a number of counties, but what corresponds to sandy 
loam in the other counties is quite prominent in Arkansas. That 
does not mean that it is all sandy loam, however. You will notice, 
though, that the red is quite prominent. Wherever we have a 
coastal plain county, there is very little red in it. Jefferson is a 
coastal plain, but the amount of unimproved land is larger than 
shown here, because not all of Jefferson County lies in the coastal 
plain, and is not represented here. Jefferson has a good deal of wet 
and heavy land. Grant County is a coastal plain county, and the 
proportion of rough and stony land is low. When we get into the 
mountain counties, the proportion of rough and stony land is rela- 
tively high. 

Texas, again, we know relatively little about, and I have un- 
dertaken to show only the eastern part of the state. One of the 
characteristics of the Texas Coast Plain is that there is a very high 
percentage of sandy loam and a relatively low percentage of sand. 
One or two counties have a high percentage of sand. Wet and 
heavy lands are also low. Texas is a region of adaptable soils and 
a small amount of the characteristically forage land crops. 1 will 
also say that this blue color in Texas represents mostly the heavy 
lands, rather than the wet, for there is not a great deal of wet land 
in the state. 

Now, to sum the whole thing up, I have put on the chart a 
summation of the data shown on the other charts. 

This bar represents for Alabama the total improved land ; this, 
the total unimproved land, and of the unimproved land, this repre- 
sents the percentage of sand, this the wet and heavy land, this the 
rough, and this the sandy loam. 

The same way in other states. You will notice here the large 
amount of blue in Mississippi and the relatively small amount of 
red — a little larger than in Alabama and quite a little larger than in 

Texas. 

A Delegate : I would like to ask whether the chart represents 
the entire part of the states? 

Mr. Marbut : No. It represents only those counties in the 
coastal plain, with the exception of Arkansas. 



78 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Two Kinds 
of Natural 
Drainage 



Some Factors fo be Consid- 
ered in the Drainage of the 
Cut-Over Lands o///?^ South 

^j/ S. H. McCrory 

Chief of Drainage Investigations 

Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering 

U. S. Department of Agriculture 

One of the fundamental requirements of any soil that is to 
be used profitably for agriculture is that it be well drained. It 
matters little how much inherent fertility the soil may possess, 
or how favorably located the land may be with respect to mar- 
kets, if there is insufficient drainage agricultural operations can- 
not be conducted successfully. It is hardly necessary for me to 
say that in all the Southern States there are large areas of cut- 
over lands, which, before they can be made available for the 
practice of agriculture on a paying basis, must have existing 
drainage improved. These areas may be divided roughly into 
two classes. In the one class may be placed wide stretches of 
low-lying level lands with poorly developed natural drainage 
channels. In the other may be placed rolling and hilly land 
where the natural drainage is ample — if not too ample — only the 
narrow valleys along the streams needing drainage. 

The low level lands are usually found in the coastal plain 
region or the Mississippi Valley. The drainage channels of these 
lands are usually shallow, poorly defined depressions that vary 
in width from a few feet to several miles, and are generally cov- 
ered with stumps and a heavy growth of small trees, brush, and 
vines. Occasionally there is a poorly defined stream channel that 
winds its way through the depression. Usually, however, the 
water finds its way slowly down the swamp through the trees 
and natural growth or stands until it sinks into the earth or is 
evaporated. Between the drainage channels are low ridges which 
usually rise only a few feet above the channels. The first at- 
tempts at cultivation are generally made on these ridges. Dur- 
ing periods of heavy rain the water rises and the ridges become 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 79 



so wet that the growing- or cultivating of crops becomes impos- 
sible. 

The drainage of these low-lying level lands can usually be 
accomplished readily by the construction of properly designed 
drainage improvements. To design adequate drainage improve- 
ments the needs of each district must be considered separately. 
The first step is to make a survey of the lands involved. This 
survey should include a determination of the location, size and 
fall of the existing drainage channels, the relation of these chan- 
nels to the area needing drainage, and the amount of land that 
will be drained by each watercourse. Sufficient elevations should 
be secured so that a clear idea of the character of the topography 
can be obtained. During the progress of the survey notes should 
be made of the vegetation, the character of the soil, and the 
apparent need of the various tracts for drainage. After the sur- 
vey is completed a careful study should be made of the data 
secured, of the existing rainfall records, and of records of the 
amount of run-ofif from the areas in question or similar areas 
nearby in order to determine the amount of water that must be 
removed from the area which it is proposed to drain. Upon the i^ow-Lvinq^^'^ 
proper determination of the amount of water that must be re- Level Lands 
moved depends to a large extent the successful operation of the 
drainage improvement. Many factors affect the amount of water 
that will be discharged from a given watershed. The principal 
factors are : Rainfall, topography, size and shape of the water- 
shed, evaporation, climate and seasons, soil, geological structure, 
proportion of forest and open land, character of vegetation, nat- 
ural reservoirs and artificial improvements affecting drainage. 

After the amount of water that must be removed has been 
decided upon the proper size of the ditches can be readily com- 
puted by commonly known engineering formulae. In general th6 
ditches should have ample depth. For dredge ditches eight feet 
is probably a minimum depth under ordinary conditions. The 
excavated material should not be placed closer than eight feet 
to the edge of the ditch and if the ditch is very deep the distance 
should be much greater. 

The drainage ditches should be so located that they can be 
readily reached by the landowners whose lands they are supposed 
to benefit. The topography of the district and the character of 
the farm drains that will be used are usually the deciding factors 
in determining the location of the ditches. 



80 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Timber 
Removal and 
Erosion 



I come now to the problem of successfully draining the nar- 

^ . . row stream valleys in the hilly country. This can be accom- 

Hilly Country plished only by coupling- drainage with measures to prevent and 

control erosion on the surrounding hills if the improvement is 

to be permanent and satisfactory. 

When the rolling and hilly country in the entire watershed 
was timbered and in its natural state, the drainage system was 
well developed, and only the narrow strips of low lands found 
along the streams needed drainage. With the removal of the 
timber on the hill lands and attempts at cultivation of these hills, 
the forces of nature began to work and soon erosion developed 
with the result that the streams in the lowlands were filled with 
soil washed from the hillsides and the bottoms were flooded so 
frequently that they were abandoned. A description of condi- 
tions in a typical area before drainage will give you a clear idea 
of the lands I have in mind : 

"Beginning at the northern extremity, the channel is very 
narrow and crooked, though its general direction is straight. 
The depth of this section varies from one-half to 1 foot. Near 
its mouth the stream is much wider, averaging about ten to 
fifteen feet, and in a better condition. The entire length of the 
stream has a heavy growth of brush, trees, and logs. 

"Not much meadow land is found along the stream, the 
width between the hills varying from about 100 feet to one-fourth 
mile, being as much as one-half mile in only one or possibly two 
short strips. Practically all of this land has at one time been 
under cultivation, and years ago, when the stream had a much 
deeper and better defined channel, large crops of corn and hay 
were produced. However, the landowners have been cultivating 
their hill lands almost entirely with cotton, corn, or some other 
clean crop, year after year, giving little or no attention to the 
care of the hillside wash, until today over three-fourths of this 
low land is practically valueless. Several of the landowners 
stated that about twenty-five years ago the channel was from 
four to six feet deep, while today, except where improved, it will 
not average over one to two feet in depth, being filled with the 
hillside wash. Overflows are frequent on this stream ; although 
some of them are quite large, especially the spring and summer 
freshets, very little damage can be done at present since none of 
the landowners attempt the cultivation of this low land." 

How shall these hilly lands and narrow lowlands be con- 
served? As in the drainage of the low-lying lands, so in the 
drainage of these hill lands, the first step is to make a survey of 
the stream valley similar to that before indicated. Frequently 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 81 

it is found advisable to construct a new channel which should be 
located usually down the middle of the valley. Rock is fre- 
quently found in these valleys and hence it is essential that j^^^^ Methods 
sufficient borings be made to locate any rock that might be to Follow 
encountered in constructing the ditches. Experience has shown 
that by carefully determining the location and area of rock ledges 
the ditch can be so located as to avoid them. 

The amount of water removed by these streams is so large 
that it has not been found economically practicable to prevent 
entirely the overflow of the bottom lands. The amount of runoff 
that must be provided for on these streams is considerably more 
than that on the low-lying level areas. Satisfactory results have 
been secured in reclaiming bottom lands draining from 35 to 50 
square miles when the ditches provided for one inch in depth in 
twenty-four hours over the entire watershed. On other streams 
a somewhat lower rate of runoff has been used with quite satis- 
factory results. The most important factor seems to be to have 
the ditch as deep as possible so that during periods of low water 
in the ditch the bottom can be thoroughly drained. The over- 
flows that occur after the ditch has been constructed are usually 
of short duration and many landowners believe they are ben- 
efited more by the deposit of silt on their lands than they are 
injured. 

The period of usefulness of ditches constructed in these 
valleys will depend largely on how successfully erosion on the 
hillsides is controlled. Control the erosion on the hillsides and 
you perform a double function ; namely, the conservation of the 
fertility of the hill lands and the extension of usefulness of the 
ditches in the lowlands. It has been amply demonstrated in this 
country and abroad that erosion can be controlled by improved 
methods of agriculture and the use of terraces. Successful ex- 
amples of terracing can be found in every Southern state. Con- 
struction of ditches in the lowlands without proper attention to 
the hillsides means excessive and frequent maintenance costs if 
the ditches are to be kept in good working condition. 

A word on the subject of costs. Drainage improvements for 
low-lying level areas range from $2 to $10 per acre. In the nar- 
row valleys the cost ranges from $15 to $50 an acre. These costs Costs of 
are for outlet drainage only and do not include the cost of drain- D^^'^afl'^ 
ing the individual tracts or of terracing the hill lands. Neither 
do these prices include clearing of the lands. 



82 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



I have outlined in a general way the character of improve- 
ments needed to drain cut-over lands. I have indicated the range 
of cost to construct proper drainage systems. The question 
whether these lands should be drained resolves itself into the 
simple business proposition : Will it pay? To answer this ques- 
tion properly consideration must be given to suitability of the 
soil to producing crops adapted to the region, transportation 
facilities, markets, cost of clearing and developing, demand for 
more agricultural land, and desirability of location for settle- 
ment. In cases where drainage is undertaken principally with a 
view to selling the lands rather than to opening them up to cul- 
tivation by their owners, care must be taken to see that such 
settlers have sufficient funds to clear and develop the land, plant 
it, and to provide for their needs until they can realize some- 
thing from their crops. 

It will be of interest to refer for a moment to some sections 
where cut-over lands have been drained and see what has fol- 
lowed drainage. Not so long ago from a landowner in a 200,000- 
acre tract of low-lying level land in Arkansas we received a 
letter reading in part as follows : "Many thousand acres of land 
have gone rapidly into cultivation, with population and produc- 
tion increasing amazingly. Many hundreds of houses and barns 

,,. , „ , have been built per annum for the past several years. Lands that 
High Prodiic- . ,., r i i.ii_ 

tivity of were m swamps and tmiber a few years ago nave lately been 

producing 75 to 95 bushels of corn per acre and this year $75 to 

$125 worth of cotton per acre; and miles of good roads where 

were swamps and cut-over timber. Certainly our efforts and 

expenditures have been justified beyond all expectation." On 

similar land in Missouri the farmers have reported harvesting 

28 bushels of winter wheat the first year and from 35 to 45 

bushels of corn. A few years ago the hilly and narrow lowlands 

of which I read you a description of conditions were drained. 

Not so long ago a landowner in that section remarked that the 

value of the corn crops harvested the first year after drainage 

was completed was sufficient to pay the entire cost of drainage. 

There is another form of benefit accruing from the drainage 
of swamp and cut-over land, which, though not tangible or capa- 
ble of being expressed in dollars and cents, should not be over- 
looked. I refer to the influence of drainage on the sanitary con- 
ditions of the community. Not long ago I was inspecting one of 
the first drainage ditches to be constructed in the Piedmont Sec- 



Property 
Drained 
Cut-Over 
Lands 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 83 



tion of North Carolina. While on this inspection I chanced to 

meet an old lady at a farm house. During the conversation I 

inquired regarding the health of the community. To my inquiry 

she replied with much satisfaction that for the past two or three 

years they had practically no sickness, but that prior to that f^^^^^}^^^ 

time every summer and fall they and all their neighbors suf- Sanitary 

fered much with "chills and fevers." When I recalled when the Conditions 

drainage was completed, I found that the sickness to which the 

old lady referred abated just after the time the improvements 

were completed. The experience related is only in common with 

that experienced by many in other sections where cut-over lands 

were drained. 

From the benefits which I have enumerated as being re- 
ceived in certain sections I do not wish it to be inferred that 
the drainage of any and all cut-over lands is to be encouraged. 
The soil in the sections to which I refer was of unquestioned 
agricultural value and the lands seemed to combine in unusual 
degree all the factors which I have previously indicated must 
receive careful preliminary consideration before drainage is un- 
dertaken. 

In conclusion let me leave with you this parting word : 
If it is the purpose of this association to encourage and promote 
the drainage of the cut-over lands in the South, see to it that 
projects are undertaken only after careful, discriminating con- 
sideration is given to the various factors I have endeavored to 
impress upon you. Remember after all, if the drainage of these 
lands is undertaken on anything other than a sound business 
basis in the end it must prove a disappointment if not a failure. 



84 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Some Problems of Cut-Over 
Land Development 

By Harry D. Wilson 

Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of 
Louisiana 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: — As I am a real hill- 
billy, born and raised in the cut-over section, I really think I 
know something of the cut-over proposition ; but before I start 
Cattle Impor- on this subject I v\'ant to say that I cannot fully agree with our 
tations from brilliant Governor from Arkansas in reference to throwing open 

^ . the bars to the importation of cattle from Argentine and other 

ica Opposed . ^ *^ 

countries. (Applause.) I want to say, gentlemen, that we are 

fighting day and night to get rid of the cattle tick. We want to 

get rid of what we have, before we bring in any more to work on. 

This thing at first glance may sound all right ; but we don't 
know so much about this cattle business. We want more good 
cattle, but if we want to develop these cut-over lands we better 
go slow on this proposition. You know, I am a Louisiana Demo- 
crat, and that means that we like toi protect our agricultural in- 
terests, and we are getting away from the idea of free trade. If 
you don't make the conditions surrounding that boy and woman 
on the farm as interesting as those surrounding the fellow in the 
city he won't stay. He can't get along competing with negroes 
and Japanese raising cattle on lands that don't cost; anything. 
My opinion is that these cut-over lands have a value to them. 

The success of this great enterprise that you gentlemen have 
under consideration today depends absolutely on the people you 
put on these cut-over lands. , I want to sound a note of warning. 
CoIoni<its ^^ ^*^" folks bring down people from the North or from foreign 

Must Be countries that are farmers, they will succeed ; but if you bring 

Obtained shoemakers and blacksmiths and street car conductors, the re- 

sult will be disastrous ; and we want these land's settled by people 
that will stay. 

We have a great industry that I am particularly interested 
in — the sheep industry. We have not as many sheep in the 
whole United States as we had forty years ago ; but there is one 



The Dawn of a New Constru ctive Era 85 

trouble to that industry, and that is the dog. Now, mind you, 
I never saw a man who had a sheep-killing dog in my life ; but 
you cannot have sheep and dogs in the same county or parish. 
The Legislatures have to take care of the dogs, so we can have 
sheep. I have no objections to a dog, but I do have objection to 
a dog killing my sheep. If we can regulate the dog— there are 
no sheep-killing dogs, I know — but if we can regulate the dog 
in some way these cut-over lands can be; brought up to their ^^^^^^^^ ^^^ 
economic limits at once. You don't have to remove stumps to sheep-Killing 
graze sheep ; they will d'o your cultivating without the removal D^g 
of stumps ; but when you go out to plowing, some of us are cul- 
tivating the same stumps that our grandfathers left. You have 
to get those stumps out. because you can't farm on it with 
stumps. Now, the question has often come to my mind, since 
this great convention was advertised for' New Orleans, whether 
it is more economical for the large land owner to cut those 
stumps out and put the land in perfect condition, or whether it 
is best for the forty or sixty-acre farmer to do it. That is some- 
thing for a man higher up to solve than a common two by four 
Commissioner of Agriculture. 

Now, gentlemen, I want to warn you all of this : Don't go 
too fast in some wild-cat scheme. The foundation of this whole 
problem is to get people that will stay — not any fly-by-night 
concerns. What we want is something permanent. If you bring 
some farmers down here and 95 per cent of them go Dack up North, 
they will tell them up there that this is a devil of a country. But 
the best advertisement in the world is a satisfied customer. 

If you just get down to the proper ideas of business methods 
you will find there is a world of virtue in these cut-over lands. 
It is very susceptible to drainage, and it is very susceptible to 
any good treatment you give it. Soy beans is one of its best 
crops ; and soy beans and velvet beans will soon put these lands 
where they will be just as fertile and raise just as good crops as Development 
these alluvial lands. I do hope something tangible and business- Must Be on 
like will come from this great Conference ; and you can depend Sound Basis 
on the Department of Agriculture doing everything in its power 
to back up and foster and push forward every movement. On 
the other hand, if there is any disposition to try anything not 
just right, and it comes to the notice of the Department of Agri- 
culture, we will put our stamp of disapproval on it ; for you can- 
not get by but once with deception. Now, the Department of Ag- 



86 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

riculture will do anything in its power to help any land company 
develop this on a sane, conservative business basis. I thank you. 
(Applause.) 

The Forage Problem of the 
Coastal Plain Area 

By Dr. C. V. Piper 

Chief Agrostologist, Bureau of Plant Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture 

One of the joys of my life is to listen to an ardent Californian 
describe the attractions of his wonderful state. If he is a little 
enthusiastic, his description is like that we are inclined to asso- 
ciate with Paradise ; and he is not so very wrong", after all, even 
if portions of California are more nearly comparable with another 
place. I have listened to very many able addresses in which the 
resources of the Southland were described, but when the enthu- 
siastic Southerner is describing the South he is never thinking 
of these cut-over pine lands. He is thinking of some other part 
of Dixieland. 

Now, gentlemen, we are here to discuss the most important 
large land problem in the United States, certainly the most im- 
portant of possible agricultural lands. I want to make it clear 
just what lands I am talking about in my address. We heard 
from Dr. Marbut this morning as to the classification of these 
lands. In the Coastal Plains there are large areas of alluvial 
and swamp lands, which, when well drained, present no serious 
problem to agriculture. There are other areas of very sandy 
lands which do present a serious problem. Intermediate be- 
tween these are large areas of land lumped together as sandy 
loams, and, for the most part, in the area we are discussing, well 
drained ; those are the ones my remarks will apply to par- 
ticularly. If we can utilize those lands successfully then there 
will be ample time to take up the more difficult sandy areas. 

Now, gentlemen, there is no question but what these lands 
are not sufficiently fertile. If they were fertile lands they would 
have been utilized long ago ; but they have not been attractive 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 87 

from the viewpoint of the farmer. It is well known, however, 
that any of these sandy loam lands, when well and judiciously 
fertilized, will produce good crops. Under present economic 
conditions, however, no large body of these lands can be utilized 
in that way. When the population of the United States is 
double what it is today, all of the land will probably be developed 
into small productive farms. In the meantime, what are we going 
to do about it? 

The crying need, fundamentally, is to find in the near future 
some profitable use for these lands, and one of the lines along 
which it seems that use can be made, under present economic 
conditions, is the growing of live stock, particularly cattle and 
sheep, which utilize large areas of land. 

Now, at the present time there is already a live stock in- 
dustry on these cut-over pine lands. It is the live stock industry 
of growing razorback hogs and piney woods cattle, an industry 
that long ago reached approximately the limits of its practical de- 
velopment. The problem is, can we replace this type of industry 
by a more attractive and more profitable one? I think you will 
agree with me that if we are to have a profitable live stock in- 
dustry on these lands, the keynote to the entire subject will be, More Forage 
can we grow the forage on these lands ; and it is about the forage Necessary to 
question I am to speak this afternoon. Better Cattle 

I want you to look for a moment at the few maps I have. 
This first map indicates the production of hay and forage in the 
United States in 1909, according to the last census. These dots, 
representing 10,000 acres each, are very accurately placed, just as 
accurately as it is possible from statistics. Notice where the 
hay and forage is grown. You will see that it is largely in the 
northeastern quarter of the United States. Of course, in the West 
there is a great deal of forage not shown on this map. I refer to 
the native pasture and range land. In the same way, the native 
forage of the South is not indicated on this map. The map in- 
dicates forage crops only on cultivated land. 

The statistics of corn are not included in the forage, but 
separately, although practically all the corn is fed to animals. All 
the corn is in the eastern half of the United States ; but consid- 
erably more than half is in the northern part of the eastern por- 
tion of the United States. 

Now, you would naturally expect the distribution of live 
stock to be correlated to that forage. Notice on this second map 



88 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Need of 

Experiment 

Work 



Two Methods 
to Be Fol- 
lowed 



vvhere the live stock is — the great black area in that northeastern 
quarter of the United States. It is perfectly obvious that forage 
and live stock go together. 

I said that these cut-over pine lands are not generally fertile, 
but can be made to produce large crops. This is being done in 
many areas throughout the Coastal Plains on soils essentially the 
same as the sandy loam soils I am speaking about, but when 
it comes to growling forage which is cheap crop, any large use 
of fertilizers is probably out of the question. The increased fer- 
tility will in the main have to be brought about by indirect 
methods. I want to state frankly that in the light of our present 
knowledge it is out of the question for the Department of Agri- 
culture, and I believe for any of the State Experiment Stations, 
to recommend farmers to engage in the live stock industry on 
these areas on these cut-over pine lands. The reason we cannot 
conservatively recommend that is because the necessary data 
do not exist. We have scattered amounts of data obtained 
from small experiments ; we have a small amount of experience 
from practical stockmen — but a very small amount. In all 
the area I am talking about there is not, to my knowledge, one 
modern live stock farm where the possibility and practicability 
of profitably producing cattle and sheep has been demonstrated. 
Without that demonstration we have to be very cautious. While 
I state this with all frankness, I want to add to it my own 
opinion as to the possibilities. I have no doubt that by the 
judicious use of the knowledge we already possess, profitable 
cattle and sheep raising can be carried on on these Coastal 
Plains sandy loam soils. 

If we do not already have this demonstrated knowledge 
that I have mentioned — and we do not have it — how are we to 
get it? There are just two methods: One is to await the ex- 
perience of men patriotic enough to go into the cattle or sheep 
business. After the course of years, through their success or 
failure, we will gradually learn the possibility of these lands 
from the live stock point of view. A few enterprising men and 
companies have already gone into such ventures; but this way 
of obtaining knowledge is long and costly, and usually it is not 
readily accessible to the public. 

The other method of obtaining the knowledge is by estab- 
lishing properly equipped live stock and forage experiment sta- 
tions, where in the course of a few years we ought to be able to 



Abundant 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 89 

tell just what is possible on these lands in the way of profitable 
live stock indiustry. In my judgment, this latter method is by 
far the better and more economical. 

I have already stated that my own opinion on this whole 
matter is optimistic. I want again to caution you that opinion 
and demonstrated knowledge are two radically different things. 
I would not hesitate to give any man my opinion but I would 
also caution him that it was my opinion and that there was no 
place he could see the thing demonstrated at the present time. 

I want to go into some details as to the facts on the raising 
of forage on these lands which lead me to have optimistic 
opinions. In the first place, various forage crops can be grown 
profitably on these lands, and with a very moderate amount of 
fertilizers, if any. Among summer crops are peanuts, velvet 
beans, beggarweed, and soy beans — all legumes. For winter 
crops oats and rye can be grown with a high degree of success, 
and where the land is more fertile you can bring in bur clover 
and vetch. These crops all require the fitting of the land each pqp^q^ j^asilii 
time they are planted, and will probably repay the use of a rel- Grown on 
atively small amount of fertilizer. In the way of perennial forage Cut-Over 
crops we have Japanese sugar cane, that will raise more tonnage Lands 
per acre than any other crop similar to it, and when once estab- 
lished it is good for from six to twelve years without replanting. 
It is an excellent silage plant, and abundantly repays any use 
of fertilizer. 

Another perennial forage crop which I believe is going to 
cut a large figure in the utilization of these lands is the perennial 
legume kudzu. At Arlington Farm, we have been able to raise in 
each of the past three years over five tons of kudzu hay per acre, 
double what we could get from cow peas. It prefers apparently 
a clay subsoil, but I have seen excellent growth of it on sandy 
loam. Then there are various other forages you can grow on 
these lands as soon as you have built up the fertility a little — 
corn and sorghums, millets and various other plants. 

The real forage difficulty is the pasture problem. You can- 
not conduct profitably any animal industry on a large acreage 
without the use of permanent pasture. Now, the permanent native 
pasture on these piney woods lands' consists of broom sedge and 
various wiry grasses, which may be grouped under the name 
of wire grass. These grasses furnish very poor feed. For two 
or three months in the spring they give fair pasturage ; after that 



90 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Types of 
Grass Best 
Suited 



Soutli's 
Agriculture 
Distinctively 
American 



they are the poorest type of pasture, and just the ordinary type of 
pasture that the piney woods cattle subsist upon. 

There is one striking fact, however, in regard to pastures 
in the piney woods which can be seen in the vicinity of every 
town and village in the South, and that is that wherever the town 
cattle graze continuously, you get patches of very dense sod con- 
sisting mainly of carpet grass. 

We know that heavy grazing is an important factor in the 
bringing about of this type of pasture. Where the cattle graze 
continuously you have carpet grass, elsewhere broom sedge 
and wire grass persist. Ordinarily, it requires heavy continuous 
pasturage to kill out wire grass and to secure carpet and other 
desirable pastures grasses. But when you once have good carpet 
grass you can allow it practically to take care of itself. 

In it may come the growth of more or less Bermuda, but 
there is not much of it as a rule. There is usually a good deal of 
Lespedeza, however. In winter the pasturage is supplemented, 
to some extent, by Bur clover, and large quantities of this can 
be brought in. The carrying capacity of a good carpet grass 
pasture is not very well known, but it seems to me it is not 
much different from the blue grass pastures of the North. I 
believe, in general, a good carpet grass pasture will carry one 
cow to about three acres. The best blue grass will carry 
one cow to two and a half acres. Your pasture season for 
carpet grass is much longer than for blue grass, and will be 
eight or nine months of the year. In the light of our present 
knowledge, this is the only type of good permanent pasture 
that you can look forward to on these sandy loam soils. I may 
say, incidentally, that carpet grass seed is not a commercial seed, 
but almost any place in the South where you pasture heavily the 
carpet grass will gradually come in. 

In this connection I want to mention one factor which is likely 
to be enormously important. Generally speaking, the agriculture 
of the North was a direct inheritance of the agriculture of Europe. 
The only important crop exception is corn. When you come to 
the South the situation is entirely different. The agriculture 
of the South is almost entirely American. We have inher- 
ited cotton, corn, tobacco, peanuts, sweet potatoes from the Amer- 
ican Indian. We have gone to Japan for the soy bean and Japan 
clover; to India to get Bermuda grass; to the Malayan region to 
get the velvet bean ; to Africa to get cow peas and sorghums ; to 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 91 

India for sugar cane ; in other words, we have built up the agri- 
culture of the South from crop plants we have obtained from all 
parts of the world. That is particularly true of the forage crops. 
Every forage crop we grow in the South is introduced. We have 
been unable in agriculture to utilize a single native plant of the 
South. 

When you bear in mind that there are in existence some 
ten thousand species of legumes, and four thousand species 
of grasses, it must be evident to you that there are still 
large possibilities in finding other valuable forage grasses or 
legumes. This is a subject which demands very exhaustive 
investigation. In a relatively small way we have been doing this 
in the Department for years and with some success. At the 
present time we have under trial a number of recently obtained 
forages, which possess various degree of promise; and some of 
these, I am sure, are going to make easier the forage problems 
on the soils Ave are talking about. 

I might mention some of the plants that apply to the South. 
One is a native of South Africa, where it has created a great deal 
of interest, and is known as "Napier's Fodder." It is a perennial 
grass, growing in the manner of sugar cane, and produces a very 
large amount of highly palatable feed per acre. In some of the 
Coastal Plain states it has succeeded very well. 

We have also been investigating very carefully the dififerent 
varieties of Bermuda grasses, and we have found one that gives 
double the yield of ordinary Bermuda. Whether that will be the 
case under practical pasture conditions remains to be determined. 

I might mention a lot of these legumes and grasses ; but I will 
say that out of the enormous- number of legumes and grasses avail- 
able we have found several that are going to help solve this forage 
problem in the South. I stated a moment ago that all the forage 
plants we are growing in the United States are introduced. This 
is as true in the North as in the South. The pasture plants 
throughout that area are blue grass, white clover and red clover — 
from Europe. The hay plants are timothy and red clover, from 
Europe, and so on down the line. Out of the enormous agri- 
culturally unexplored areas of the earth may come very much 
more. 

But altogether apart from these possibilities which lie in the 
future, my opinion, as I have stated before, is pretty optimistic. 
I believe that with our present knowledge we can build up a prof- 



92 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Impracticable 
to Combine 
Cattle Raising 
and Forestry 



Confident of 
Ultimate Suc- 
cess of Work 



itable live stock industry — the cattle industry I am thinking- of, 
particularly. When it comes to the hog industry, I think it has 
already been demonstrated in these sandy loam areas that by the 
use of peanuts, velvet beans, soy beans and others, you can con- 
duct a profitable hog industry; but this is a relatively intensive 
type of farming as compared with cattle raising. 

The question has been brought up a number of times as to 
what extent live stock farming in the South, particularly cattle 
raising, and forestry, may be conducted together. I do not think, 
myself, that the idea is very feasible. Over most of these sandy 
loam soils if you don't burn the woods every year or so it comes 
up thickly in young pines. If you do burn it, you get your grounds 
cleared, but of course, you burn off your second growth. One 
gentleman, a few years ago, complained about the number 
of young pines that grew up in his pasture, and he wanted to 
know what to do. An expert advised him that they were very 
good pasture for piney woods cattle. He wanted to know the 
advantage of them. The expert replied : "Well, you see, the cows 
eat more or less of those young pines, and the effect of it is to 
shrink their stomachs, and therefore there is less danger of the 
cow starving to death." (Laughter.) 

Now, I want to recapitulate briefly and emphasize the main 
points of this problem. So far as growing reasonably large 
crops of forage on these sandy loam soils, using a judicious 
amount of fertilizer, there is in my opinion no question. There is 
a pretty serious problem as to how practicable it is to take poor 
broom sedge and wire grass pasture and gradually convert it 
into good carpet grass pasture. I don't know how it can be 
speeded up. W^e need investigations, very seriously on that par- 
ticular point. We don't know, after the carpet grass pasture 
is obtained, just how well cattle are going to succeed on it. 
There is reason to believe, however, that the results will be satis- 
factory. But it will be necessary to supplement this by some 
other feed. However, that is'commonly done in the North and 
other pasturing regions. 

I want to close by saying that in general the whole situation 
of the live stock enterprise, at least from the standpoint of grow- 
ing the forage crops, looks to me decidedly optimistic. I want to 
repeat again that until we have demonstrated knowledge to show 
this to be a fact, we cannot conscientiously advise farmers to 
go into this thing unless they understand fully that certainty of 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



93 



success is as yet unproveii. What we need most, in order to get 
the knowledge really required, are these live stock and forage ex- 
periment stations, which, in my judgment, present the simplest 
and cheapest plan to get the information we need and ought to 
have. I thank you. (Applause.) 



Experiences in Cattle Raising 
on Cut-Over Lands 

By F. B. Enochs c/Fernwood, Miss. 

The first venture we made in the cattle business, I bought a 
registered bull on the 13th day of February, 1913. Before that I 
didn't know how to raise any pedigreed animal intelligently. My 
endeavor was then to breed up some of my native cattle. We 
bought considerable native cattle through the country. We made 
a mistake — and I want to be frank with you on that — we didn't 
appreciate the fact that this in-bred class of cattle, that had 
been in-bred for ten years, of the dairy type, were practically 
run out and would give us poor results ; but when we picked 
the best of those and began to put pure bred bulls on them 
to breed them up, we got about the same results as when 
a man gets a good stallion and breeds him. We have an 
improvement. Now, those calves that we got, they had a 
good front and rear end, and the dairy type didn't have that. 
They were the other extreme — all points. We went into the cattle 
business under difficulties. We had to pioneer. Certain people in 
this audience will know that we dipped cattle two years before we 
could get our county to vote to get rid of the tick, and we had to 
convince them that dipping cattle would not kill them. After dip- 
ping that same bunch of cattle for two years we finally got a vote 
in our county of 81 per cent of the registered voters ; we only had 
19 per cent that voted against it. We have gotten through with 
that end of it and we have gotten rid of the tick, as a result of the 
pioneering we did in the early history of our cattle endeavor. We 
have gotten round the fact that we have been going in for pure 
bred, for the simple reason that there are people in Mississippi that 
have to be educated to buying good bulls, just like I did ; I didn't 



Early Mis- 
takes in 
Grades of Cat- 
tle Selected 



Tick Elimi- 
nated as a 
Factor 



94 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Success 
Comes With 
Knowledge 



Abundant 
Forage Crops 
Produced 



know any difference between a good heifer, even if she had a 
register paper, and a poor heifer. 

Most people concede that you can take a human family of ten 
and you can find a black sheep among them. We shipped to Okla- 
homa this spring, with our herd of show cattle, some Herefords, 
and they sold for an average of $300, and they were not yet breed- 
ing age. We sold some Herefords in Ft. Worth, Texas, for as 
high as $450, not yet of breeding age. That is our pure bred cattle. 
At the this year's sale in Jackson, iMiss., we sent three heifers and 
one bull up there that really we ought not to have sacrificed — that 
we ought to have kept. We took them up there to help out the 
sale, and they sold for from $175 to $195, and most of them were 
April calves, 1916. Now I don't know a man in Missouri but what 
is willing to sell a year-old mule for less money than $175. The 
disadvantage we were under was that we didn't know the stock 
business. We were green at it when we started ; as green as could 
be. Why? We were lumbermen. We had been engaged ever since 
we were boys in running a sawmill and other lines of endeavor ; 
but the position we took was this : Looking forward to the time 
when we are cut out, that settlement will be a desert sawmill set- 
tlement unless we do what we are doing there, and that is to es- 
tablish the cattle business. The most good fortune I have had is 
to find a man who knew how to handle that cattle business. I 
spent more money advertising for a man to take care of that de- 
partment than any other department. When I got a man from 
the North he didn't know Southern conditions, labor and rainfall. 
He didn't know winter conditions here, and we have gradually 
had to take those that came to us ; but today, in my judgment, I 
am not sorry I went into the cattle business, and if the State of 
Mississippi and the Southern States will get around this point on 
these lands — that they get rid of this in-bred class of cattle and 
grow some good cattle to put into the feed-pen — it will give you 
some return for your feed. The class of cattle called the "scrub" 
isn't going to give you any return for your feed. We have 
built silos and filled them to the extent of 2,700 tons of ensilage 
in one year. We have not only corn ensilage, but we have 
grown as many as 14,000 bushels of oats in one season. We 
also grow lespedeza. Professor Lloyd was there three years 
ago and he said he didn't know the cut-over hill soils of South 
Mississippiwould grow lespedeza after oats. It was an enlight- 
enment to him. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 95 

The bur clover was not already on these lands. We have had 
all the misfits coming to us working against a proposition that 
didn't look good to a lot of people, and yet we have sold our calves 
at less than two years<old for the price of three-year-old mules in 
Missouri. Under circumstances of that kind, I have been told that 
whenever you try to make a man do something he don't want to 
do, it is an uphill business to push him on. 

I am in the game to win and I believe we are going to win; 
and I am a little disappointed to hear some of the discouraging 
reports here; because I was raised in this same territory and I feel 
that a man can make a living here. My father, a farmer, raised 
ten boys and a daughter on this very land that everybody is trying 
to find somebody to buy. 

Dr. Piper : How many acres of ranch have you ? 

Mr. Enochs : About 7,000 acres. Not ranch — but cut-over 
stump lands fenced. 

Dr. Piper : How many pure bred cattle ? 

Mr. Enochs: One hundred and thirty. 

T^ r,- Tj ^- -i T'en Acres 

Dr. Piper: How many native? Sufficient to 

Mr. Enochs: Possibly 1,600. Graze a Cow 

Mr. L. D. Gilbert, Texarkana, Tex. : How many acres of 
land are you using to graze those? 

Mr. Enochs : We are not grazing as many cattle as we did. 
We have about 7,000 acres and as we get good grade heifers we 
turn common old cows loose, because we would rather have a 
less number of grades and breed them, than to keep the common 
scrub-breed proposition. 

Mr. Gilbert : Are you running all of your cattle on your 
pasture or on the open range? 

Mr. Enochs : We don't ever put them on the open range 
because they go astray, and we don't get them. As a protection 
to that we I have three brands on them and keep them under fence. 

Mr. Gilbert : How many of them, approximately, are you run- 
ning on this 7,000 acres? 

Mr. Enochs: Our ownership now is 1,600 grades and 130 
pure bled, but we don't need that 7,000 acres for them. We figure 
ten acres will easily graze a cow. That is what you are getting 
at, isn't it? 

Mr. Gilbert: Yes. 

Mr Enochs: We have grazed a cow on less than ten acres, 
but we don't do it as against the extremes of the season. We have 



96 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

had favorable seasons in which we have grazed as low as five 
acres, but we wouldn't do it when we have the extremes of the 
season. 

Mr. Gilbert : On a ten-acre basis that would only carry 700. 

Mr. Enochs: Well, we have rented some of these grazing 
areas that other people are not willing to put cattle on. You asked 
me how much we had. 
Lespedeza Dr. Piper : You run ten acres to the cow ? 

Solves Pastiir- Mr. Enochs : Yes. 

age Problem -Qj. pjpgj.. jg th^j- ^]^q ordinary piney woods pasture? 

Mr. Enochs: That is the ordinary piney woods stump land. 

Dr. Piper : Is that pasture improving under your system of 
pasturage ? 

Mr. Enochs : Yes, sir. It is going to lespedeza now. Before 
that, the fires would destroy the lespedeza and then we only had 
the wire grass, but now the lespedeza is gradually getting hold of 
this land, and the cattle graze it close enough so there is little 
chance for broom grass growth. 

Dr. Piper: Is the carpet grass coming in, too? 

Mr. Enochs : Some, but not so much on hillsides. They do 
on these flat lands that don't get the water off. The flat lands are 
what we call top table lands. We don't consider we have made 
any money on the proposition, but we were in the business pos- 
sibly three years l^efore we saw a profit, because we didn't know 
the line. 

Dr. Piper : How many acres of feed are you growing to an 
animal ? 

Mr. Enochs : That is hard to answer, because we are feeding 
log teams and turpentine teams out of the same enclosures. 
Growing Feed ^^- Piper : You are growing an ample amount, evidently, to 

for the Cattle supplement your pastures? 

Mr. Enochs: Well, not in the sense of the man in the North, 
because a man in the North frequently, when a dry spell comes, 
has two or three silos of ensilage to supplement his cattle in the 
summer grass growing season, when the hot sultry suns burn up 
the grass. We have not gotten around to the point that we have 
been able to carry everything. We went most too heavy on 
cattle for the experience we have. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 97 



Soil Improvement Crops 

By S. M. Tracy 

Agronomist, Office of Forage Crop Investigation, 
United States Department of Agriculture 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : — Mr. Piper gives a long list of 
forage crops which can be grown successfully and profitably here 
on most of our Southern soils, but before we can grow those crops 
we must have something on which to grow them. A good crop of 
grass, of legume, of corn or of anything else has to. have a foun- 
dation ; it has to have something on which to live. We have 
many good soils in the Pine Woods country, but all soils, wher- 
ever they may be located, can be improved, but we must learn 
how we can make our poor soils good, and our good soils better. 

Our pine soils, as a rule, are very deficient in humus. We 
must supply that first. When that is supplied we may go out after 
much more profitable crops that we can produce on our cut-over 
lands. Humus is the first essential thing in soils. We can add 
nitrogen, if you want to, but without the humus, the decayed vege- 
table and animal matter, you are bound to be disappointed ; you 
will suffer from drouths and floods and your crop will not be what 
you had a right to expect. The average pile of bricks has enough 
phosphoric acid and potash for a good crop. But you have to have 
some humus to hold that soil in the condition in which the plants Humus Must 
can assimilate it. The soils of our pine woods lands, both the Be Restored 
cut-over lands' and the virgin timber lands, contain very little humus. '^ '^^" 
They have been burned year after year, generation after generation, 
until the humus is thoroughly destroyed ; all of the available nitro- 
gen driven off, and they are in a condition where they produce any- 
thing but desirable crops. Every burning we give to a pine woods, 
or wild lands of any kind, destroys more humus and nitrogen and 
exhausts the soil more than does a crop of corn or cotton. The 
fire is the most expensive crop we have. Soil is far from being 
enriched by burning; it always makes it poorer; and before we 
can get the crops which are our due we must restore the humus 
to the soil. 

Pound for pound, the dry matter of all plants will produce 
about the same amounts of humus. So far as is known, the value 



98 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Taming Wild 
Soils 



Velvet Bean 
the Ideal 
Legume 



of the humus is the same no matter from what particular plant it 
may have been derived. That being the case, the plants which we 
want to grow for our humus are those which will give us the great- 
est number of pounds per acre. 

The desirable humus crop is one which will grow rapidly and 
make a heavy yield, which will decay quickly, and, if possible, one 
which will not .only provide humus but will also absorb nitrogen 
from the air and so give us that most expensive element in com- 
mercial fertilizers. This is the ideal type of humus producing 
plant ; and we have such plants in the legumes, plants which draw 
their nitrogen from the air and which are equal to any others in 
providing the humus. Mr. Piper said we had something over ten 
thousand species of legumes. Out of this ten thousand we have 
cultivated perhaps a couple of hundred, so you see we have barely 
touched them. They have an infinite variety. We have some 
which grow very large, and some slender, and some in bushes and 
some on vines, and some are short straggling plants. Some grow 
in winter and some in summer. In that group we can get some 
species which will fit almost any desired condition or farm. 

It is a recognized fact that on most of our pine woods soils 
we do not get as good a yield of corn, or of cotton, and some other 
crops, the year in which the land is cleared as we do a year or two 
later. The soil is in a condition which has produced a certain type 
of wild plant for years, and it must be greatly changed in its nature 
before we can expect it to produce a good yield of ordinary cul- 
tivated plants. We must have something to civilize the soil, to tame 
it down, before we can expect our tame, civilized crops to feel at 
home. 

We have one legume eminently fitted for this — tKe velvet bean. 
It will do more than any other crop we have ever had to smother 
the wild growth. It will furnish more humus than we can get from 
any other crop. It is a rank-growing vine, and can be grown in 
any part of the pine woods country. It has almost universal possi- 
bilities, and will certainly grow in all of our cut-over pine region. 

It was in 1898 that the Department of Agriculture first called 
attention to these beans as an agricultural product. They had been 
grown for a great many years before that in Florida simply as an 
ornamental vine ; but in 1898, in one of the publications, it was 
mentioned as being a very desirable forage. At that time we knew 
of only one variety — what is now known as the "Florida Velvet 
Bean." That is seldom seen outside of Florida, and although it 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 99 

was frequently planted in other regions it didn't become popular 
because they always had to send to Florida to get the seed. 

Twelve years ago the Department took up the matter in a sys- 
tematic manner and began a careful search of the entire world, try- 
ing to find other species of velvet bean which would be more hardy 
and mature earlier and have other desirable characteristics lacking 
in the Florida bean. Up to this time about twenty distinct species 
have been brought in. Of these, some hundreds of hybrids and 
crosses have been made in an endeavor to combine the desirable 
qualities of the different species ; and now we have an infinite 
variety, and of these quite a number of forms have made for 
themselves a place in the agriculture of the South. 

The old Florida bean was a vine which grew pretty high ; I 

don't think any of us know how long it will grow ; it produces a 

Earlii VanC" 
small podi 2^ to 3 inches, with small mottled seeds, the pod cov- ,. * r> 

ered with a black velvet — from which the bean took its name. Development 
Until twelve years ago that was the only variety we had in culti- 
vation. 

Another was what is known as the "Lyon" bean. The pod, 
instead of being three inches long, was nearly six inches in length ; 
the beans, instead of being spherical and mottled, were large, flat- 
tened ovals, like a butter bean, only larger. The pods, instead of 
being covered with black, velvety pubescence, were covered 
with grayish hairs and of quite a different form — pointed at each 
end. If anything, it was more rank growing than the Florida 
bean, and produced fully as heavily, but unfortunately ripened 
very little earlier. These were popular for two or three years 
until we got others in. 

The next was what is known as the "Yokohama" bean, from 
Japan. That pod is very similar to that of the Lyon bean, a large 
pod with ash colored or white seed, the pod covered with hairy 
bristles instead of velvet. The vine is rather small. This ripens in 
about five months from planting, where the old bean took nine to 
ten months. 

Following that came the "Chinese" bean, which is probably 
little more than an early ripening variety of the Lyon bean. That 
ripens in a hundred and fifty days from planting. 

Then we have another one, which came to us probably from 
Georgia ; it is called the "Georgia" bean. Some say it is a 90 and 
lOO-day bean, but it is not ; it ripens in 120 days. The pod is very 
similar to that of the Florida bean, but the vine is much smaller. 



100 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Best Beans 
for Different 
Localities 



Then we have another one of the hybrids, called the "Osceola" 
bean. That is something between the Lyon and the old Florida 
bean, and was produced by the Florida Experiment Station. It has 
the black, velvety pod of the old Florida bean, but has a very much 
larger seed ; nearly as large as the Lyon, or Chinese, or Yokohama. 

In general, the varieties having the large, black, velvety pods 
have one characteristic which is very desirable — the Lyon bean, the 
Chinese bean and the Yokohama bean, those large hairy-podded 
ones, very often split open when they are growing on the vines and 
beginning to get ripe. The black, velvety pods do not split open, 
and therefore are somewhat better. 

For the extreme South, the old Florida bean and the Lyon 
bean are among the best we have. From here north to central 
Mississippi or Alabama the more productive beans are the 
Osceola and the Chinese. Still further north to Tennessee and 
in Georgia the Yokohama and Georgi-a beans will be found more 
satisfactory. We have so many of these varieties now that we can 
find something which is suited to practically every locality where 
velvet beans may be wanted. 

We do not need to discuss the varieties here extensively, be- 
cause they will be more fully discussed in a bulletin which is soon 
to be issued by the Department. 

I want to call your attention to this difference in the varie- 
ties, because a great many growers, all the way from here to 
Kentucky, have sent in orders for one bushel, five bushels, 120 
bushels, of "velvet beans," not specifying any variety. When they 
are planted they are sure to be disappointed. When the Yoko- 
ihama and Georgia varieties are planted in south Florida they 
waste half a year. When you plant velvet beans, select the va- 
riety suited to your particular locality. The best variety for any 
locality is one which will continue growing without stopping to 
mature the seed until just before the vines are to be killed by 
frost. That day, of course, is a little uncertain, but it can be ap- 
proximated for each locality. 

The beans produce an immense yield. We have very little 
data giving specified yields of hay and beans, from the fact that 
the crop is very rarely cleaned from the fields. The vine is long 
and difficult to cut, and it is commonly utilized for grazing. The 
beans, when they are gathered, are gathered by the hundred 
pounds ; and it is rare that they are gathered clean, because when 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 101 

left in the field they are good for feed ; but an average yield of 
beans and vines wOuld be from two to four tons per acre ; if 
they are good and dry like hay that would be a good estimate. 
The yield of beans in the pods varies all the way from three- 
quarters of a ton to something over two tons. In Mississippi I 
have known something over two tons of seed per acre to be 
grown. 

The principal use of the velvet bean, in addition to this 

humus making, is for winter grazing. Most legumes, such as 

cow peas, soy beans, etc., the leaves break off very quickly, and 

after dropping they are decayed and the whole plant is worth- Z, ,^: ^^^ 

Hcst for Win- 
less in a few days after the first touch of frost. The velvet bean ^^J. jj^^ 

is very tough, though ; and the beans, leaves and vines resist 
decay for many weeks or even months. Neither do the beans 
decay when left on the ground during the winter. In fact, in 
central and southern Florida many varieties retain their vitality 
so completely that when a field has once been seeded volunteer 
crops will follow for many years, and even in southern Missis- 
sippi this sometimes occurs. The vines grow much larger and 
seed much more freely when they are supported from the ground 
by means of poles, and a grain of corn soon develops into an 
efficient and inexpensive pole. Not much corn may be secured 
from such a planting on new ground, but the presence of the 
stalks will add largely to the yield of both vines and beans. 
When planted on old fields they are usually planted with corn, ^^y ^^ 

nearly all of which can be gathered before the bean vines are ^ ^^ , 
1 , . . . , , r taneously 

large enough to cause serious mconvenience, and the few ears ^y/f/j Corn 

which will be missed will be found and eaten- when the field is 

grazed. 

They are far superior to any other legume which we could 
have for that purpose. The quality of the feed is excellent. I 
have seen steers sell in February ready for the butcher. They had 
no other feed except this from December until sent to the butcher 
in February. The most economical way to handle the crop is to 
give the cattle the first grazing; let them go over the fields and 
clean them, and after they have cleaned off the best of it the 
hogs can be turned in and they will get about as much as the 
cattle got. If the crop is reserved for hog pasture it will give 
more pork than we can get from most any other crop. I know 
where four to six hundred pounds of pork have been made per 
acre from this one crop. I have known of some instances where 



102 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

the yield of pork per acre has been more than double that 
amount, but we have definite records of over six hundred pounds 
of pork per acre ; and after the hogs are taken off the field there 
are the remains of the vines and the droppings of the hogs left 
on the ground to add to the fertility of the soil. 

As a restorative crop for exhausted soils, velvet beans are 
even more valuable than cow peas, -as they grow larger and so 
produce more humus and add more nitrogen to the soil. Pro- 
fessor Ross, of the Alabama Station, shows the fertilizing value 
of a crop of two tons of vines and beans to have a value of about 
$55.00 per acre, the valuation being based on the present prices 
of commercial fertilizers ; and this valuation was fully justified 
in the increase in yield of the crops which followed. Bulletin 
120, of the Alabama Station, says that following a crop of the 
„ . , beans on a sandy soil the yield! of cotton was. increased 18 per 
Show Value cent, corn 32 per cent, fall-sown oats 334 per cent, and of wheat 
of Velvet 280 per cent. This great increase was, doubtless, due partly to 

Beans for Soil the fertilizing elements contained in the bean crop, and partly 
Enrichment ^q ^.j^g betterment of the condition of the soil by the addition of 
the humus. Station analyses show that an ordinary crop of the 
beans will add as much plant food to the soil as is contained in 
1,400 pounds of cottonseed meal, and that, in addition to its 
humus-making and other beneficial effects. Every Experiment 
Station official with whom I have corresponded has been em- 
phatic in stating that the fertilizing value alone was worth far 
more than the entire cost of growing the crop, thus leaving its 
pasture and seed value as clear profit. 

This is the experience which has been given to me by many 
Station authorities with whom I have talked. Within the last 
twelve years, since the propaganda in favor of their cultivation 
has been going on, the increase in cultivation has been immense. 
The increase in Louisiana is very great ; I don't know the exact 
acreage. 

The plantings in Mississippi will be over a million acres this 
year. 

The papers sometimes call me a velvet bean crank. Per- 
haps I am ; but I hardly know the difference between a crank 
and a man who pushes a good thing when he sees it. I am push- 
ing velvet beans. It is twenty years since I planted the first crop 
and I have been for it ever since, and I believe it is the best crop 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 103 

we have for taming and fertilizing the soil, for furnishing winter 
grazing and for restoring the fertility to exhausted soil. It is 
undbubtedly the pioneer crop for our cut-over lands. (Ap- 

P'^"^^) Best Beans 

Mr. Thompson : What variety of bean would you advise for ^.^^ ^^^ ^^ 

Texas ? Texas 

Mr. Tracy: How many months have you without frost? 
Mr. Thompson : We don't have frost before the latter part 

of November, until the last days in March. 

Mr. Tracy: I would use the Chinese or the Osceola. The 

Osceola is a little later than the Chinese — a week or two. 



Need of Experiment Station 
Work on Cut-Over Lands 

By W. R. Dodson 

Dean of the State College, Director of the Experi- 
ment Stations of the State of Louisiana 

I think the miscellaneous discussion indulged in after Mr. 
Piper's address justifies me in the assertion that we have en- 
tirely -inadequate information as to what can be done on these 
lands in a definite, specific way to tell the average inquirer 
what he might expect us to know. I don't know but one way 
to get that information, and that is to get the experiment sta- 
tions to do these things over a series of years to get the aver- 
age conditions and make the average deduction from it. 

I was just thinking, when we were talking about this ques- 
tion, suppose they had been in the very definite form of ques- 
tions, and we had said to some of these gentlemen : How many 
tons of velvet beans can you expect to gain, as an average, on 
the long leaf yellow pine cut-over lands? How much cow pea ^^^^^^^fj 
hay can you expect? How many tons of beef can you make on j^fif.j^iji(j 
an acre of land an average year, and how much will it cost you? 
How many pounds of pork can you make on an average acre of 
land on an average season in the general type of long leaf and 
short leaf yellow pine region? And I don't believe you could an- 
swer those questions, because you don't know. The only way 1 



104 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

know of to get that information is to try it and see ; and the 
people that are best equipped' to get reliable information of this 
kind are people that have no land to sell, that have no personal 
interest in the results that are to come from those experiments, 
so that they can be uninfluenced as to whether the results are 
favorable or unfavorable ; and there will be no temptation to 
look to the good results with a magnifying eye, and the bad re- 
sults in a diminished estimate, so that the whole truth, by an 
unprejudiced, disinterested party, can go into things of this 
Federal and kind ; and that means somebody maintained either by the Fed- 
State Co-oper- ^^^^ ^^ g^^^^ funds, or by funds that may be subscribed to by 
ation Best . ^ . , . , . ,,.,.,,. , . , 

mterested people ; but the best way, 1 thmk, is the basis on which 

we have worked it out for other experiments, by Federal and 
state support — so that these men will not be under obligations 
to anybody. They should not be censored as to what they shall 
say or can keep from saying about their results. 

I believe there is a great future for these lands. This is the 
first effort I know of where we have had represented in confer- 
ence so much talent, men that are deeply interested in the out- 
come;, where the Government representatives of the Department 
of Agriculture, the Colleges of Agriculture, the State Depart- 
ments of Agriculture, the land owners and the railroads and the 
bankers, all of these people who would be materially affected, 
both in a material way and in the advancement of the public 
welfare, have tried to put their heads together. 

Now, let us not be deceived by trying to take short-cut 
methods. Let us be candid with one another, and with the 
prospective farm owners, and let them see that we are going 
to solve these questions. Enough has been tried to make the 
outlook very encouraging. Enough information has been 
brought out to show that there is a lot more to do ; that this 
is not plain sailing ; and that if everything was known that the 
men want to know you would not be here today. The fact 
that some of your lands have been offered and have not been 
taken is an indication that you are not able to tell the pros- 
pective purchasers what they want to know. They are not 
going to listen to you very well until you are able to tell 
them, and then be able to stand by your statements. Until 
we have the information that will enable us to look a man square 
in the eye and tell him with a clear conscience that he can do 
this, and he can expect so and so, and here are the difficulties 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



105 



to be overcome, and give him a frank statement of w^hat he might 
expect, you w^ill not get very much development or utilization 
of these lands; but when you are able to do that, and you can 
tell by experience and facts that the land might do this or that, 
you will do well in selling lands. 

In formulating your plans I hope you will lay a broad foun- 
dation ; work out a plan by which the men that are permanently 
in this kind of work may correlate their efforts with the Federal 
authorities and state authorities and the people who have their 
money in the land, so they can work together on a permanent 
basis. Until we make such arrangements we will work with a 
dissipation of our energies and loss of money and time ; and so, 
in formulating your plans I hope you will make ample provision 
for experimental data to be obtained by impartial men, to extend 
over a sufficient period to eliminate great variations in seasons, 
so that due attention will be given to selecting original areas 
that will be as typical of large areas as possible ; that that infor- 
mation shall be given without restriction and without limitations 
to those that will be interested in it ; that it will be financed 
on a basis that will not make anybody feel under obligations to 
keep something back. I believe when we do that we will work 
out a plan by which these lands will offer very attractive propo- 
sitions for a great many people. 

I only want to give you one illustration of what I mean. We 
have been talking today about rich lands and poor lands. Rich 
land and poor land are simply relative terms. We say poor land 
when we are! thinking about the production of cotton, and it 
means one thing; and we say poor land when we think of the 
production of sweet potatoes, and it means another thing. If I 
were -to go to Alexandria, for instance, which is on the border 
line of the long leaf pine country and I wanted to grow corn 
on the north and the alluvial land on the south, and I would 
say, "Which is the best land, over there on the hills or over here 
in the bottoms" and everybody would say, "Over here in the 
bottoms ; you can't grow any corn on hilly land." But suppose 
I wanted to raise sweet potatoes, and I ask, "Where can I raise 
the best sweet potatoes — ^over here in the sandy loams or over 
there in the Red River bottom land," and the man would say, 
"You can raise much better potatoes on the hill land than you can 
on the stiff soils," and therefore that pine land is richer for you 
than the Red River bottom. That is simply an illustration of the 



Much Prelim- 
inary Work 
Necessary 



Where 

"Poor" Lands 
Are "Rich" 
Lands 



106 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

indefinite meaning of the terms in which we speak. I hope you 
will go ahead and keep this work up until this problem of gaining 
adequate information regarding the cut-over pine lands is 
solved. 

Mississippi's Part in Cut-Over 
Land Development 

By Dr. E. R. Lloyd 

Director of Experiment Stations of the State of 

Mississippi 

I have been somewhat amused at the apparent incompatibility 
between Dr. Piper's ideas of the cut-over land and the ideas of the 
other gentlemen. It seems to me that Dr. Piper was talking about 
one type of cut-over land and the other gentlemen were talking 
about another type, and both correct from their different points of 
view. 

We have a vast deal of cut-over land in Mississippi which is 
really splendid agricultural land. We also have a great deal of 
cut-over land in Mississippi which is hardly worth while as agri- 
cultural land, and Dr. Piper was entirely correct when he said that 
on this poorer type of soil we cannot grow very much of a crop 
and to make a good pasture will be both difficult and expensive. 
While on the better type, which has a good red-clay subsoil, we 
can grew many profitable field crops besides lespedeza and Ber- 
muda for pasture. 

In developing this cut-over territory it seems to me, Mr. Chair- 
man, that the first thing to be done, so far as Mississippi is con- 
cerned, is to repeal some legislation we already have. These lands 
will never be developed through individual effort ; they will be 

,,. . , . developed by corporations with money ; but so long as we have such 
Vicious Legis- , ^ ^ . t i , i , ^ i 

lation Retards ^^ '^^^ statute books as we have today, these cut-over lands 

Development ^^^ "ot going to be developed very rapidly. And it seems to me 

with an organization made up of some of the best business men of 

the country something might be done if the proper effort was made 

to repeal the vicious laws which now retard progress in the state's 

development. We desire to see these lands developed on a per- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 107 



manent rather than on a speculative basis. One of the serious 
troubles with Southern agriculture today is its unstable character. 
If some practical plan could be worked out by which agriculture in 
all its phases could be stabilized and conducted on a safe and sane 
basis, it would be the most profitable business for the greatest num- 
ber of our people to engage in. 

When the cut-over lands are developed it will necessarily be 
on rather a large scale, and live stock offers perhaps the safest re- 
turns, since with live stock we can handle the maximum amount 
of land with the minimum amount of labor, while with crops the 
conditions are reversed. 

We are working in a small way through our Extension De- 
partment of the Agricultural College of Mississippi and our 
Branch Experiment Station at McNeill in Pearl River Coun- 
ty with the small farmers in the cut-over territory. Our purpose 
is to help them develop their small farms on a permanent basis by 
combining live stock with crops. 

The plan we suggest is for each small farmer to have five dairy 
cows, two brood sows, twenty-five sheep, twenty-five head of poul- 
try, and then plan his crops so that feed enough to carry all live 
stock will be produced, with a small surplus for sale. The bankers 
and business organizations in many counties have agreed to 
finance these small farmers, and our demonstration agents will 
help plan his crop rotations and teach him the best methods of 
handling his live stock as well as assist him in marketing his sur- 
plus products. 

We do not expect very large areas of this cut-over land to be 
converted into small farms immediately, but we think this a begin- 
ning in the right direction. 

In the past the absence of cheap money and long-time loans 
prevented many from going on the farm, but since the passage of 
the Federal Farm Loan Act we find the interest in farming increas- 
ing. While I consider the passage of the Federal Farm Loan Act 
one of the most constructive pieces of legislation passed in recent 
years, I also think that cheap money is a menace to th-s masses. 
Cheap money on long-time payments is very alluring, and 1 fear 
too many will avail themselves of the opportunity to borrow money 
without having first carefully worked out plans for its safe invest- 
ment. I think every man who borrows money should be required 
to submit in writing a carefully thought out plan for spending the 
money and have this plan approved by a competent committee. 



Financing the 

Small 

Farmer 



The Good and 
Evil in Cheap 
Money 



108 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



What Georgia Is Doing to 

Encourage fhe Utilizing of 

Cut-Over Lands 

By John R. Fain 

Agronomist of the College of Agriculture of the 
State of Georgia 

Gentlemen, I am with you today because President Soule, of 
our institution, was detained at home on account of a campaign 
we are carrying on in Georgia at this time. He asked me to ex- 
press to you his regret at not being able to be present. 

I would like to say to you that our institution is represented 
because we thought this was one of the big constructive pieces 
of work being undertaken in the Southern states. I will try to 
present to you as briefly as I can some of the things that the 
College of Agriculture is trying to help in development. 

We fancy that the College of Agriculture should be some- 
thing of a clearing house for information for the people of the 
state, and that we should get together that information for them 
and be able to present it to them, and we bring it to your atten- 
tion as some of the work we are trying to do. Therefore, I am 
going to use a few charts I have here for this purpose. 

These figures were compiled from census reports and from 

estimates by President Soule. I am not going to take your time 

up to any great extent. We have a considerable number of live 

Better Grades stock in the South ; but the principal trouble is its quality and 

of Cattle low value ; and I might use these figures from the State of 

Needed in Georgia. I will say that in the fifteen Southern states, in the 

six years from 1910 to 1916, the beef cattle decreased something 

like three-quarters of a million. It struck me, in listening to the 

discussion> yesterday, that a great many of those cattle could 

have been maintained on some of the seventy-odd million acres 

of land in this country. 

Now, outside of the quality there is another factor, and that 
is loss from disease and exposure in these Southern states. 
Take the state of Georgia. We believe in presenting to the peo- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



109 



pie the actual conditions. We think that because we sometimes 
have a mild climate that the loss doesn't amount to anything. 
Run down that column : Loss from disease, cattle, 25 per thou- 
sand ; from exposure, 25 per thousand; sheep, from disease, 31 ^^'^^^^^^^"d 
per thousand ; from exposure, 31 per thousand ; swme, from dis- ^^^^^^^^ . 
ease, 71 per thousand. These are the figures from the North 
Atlantic states, much lower than from Georgia. If we are going 
to do anything with the live stock business, we must reduce that 
rate of loss. 

This is the status of the live stock industry in Georgia, 
showing there has been a decided increase in number in our 
state. The large increase there is from hogs. The increase from 
the other animals does not amount to very much. 

Now, as to the replacement, taking the state of Georgia: 
The average of horses and mules compares very favorably with 
the average in the country as a whole, but, unfortunately, those 
are the things we buy. We buy most of our horses and mules; 
we do not raise them. The average value of our cattle is $16.20 
as against $35.88 in the rest of the country; sheep, our value is 
$2.80 as against $7.14; swine, $9.00 as against $11.73. 

Another line of work we are trying to carry on is something 
of the food problem. Here we havei three foodstuffs: Silage 
and cottonseed meal give the greatest production of butter. This 
year we are trying out cottonseed meal, peanut meal and velvet 
bean for dairy cattle, to be presented to the people another year. 
This chart indicates something of the relative number of the 
blooded cows and the good cows that will be required to make 
the same profit. We have good dairy cows that make as much One^ ^^^^^ 
profit as 41 of our average dairy cows in the state. Another ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ 
condition we are up against is the relative food value of differ- 
ent crops that we can grow. 

Now, as to the question of what we can do with live stock. 
This is in the Coastal Plain region. This is a statement of the 
value of live stock at the Agricultural College. They started in 
September, 1907. with $1,917 worth of live stock. They have 
spent from that time up to June 1, 1916, over $9,000. The value 
of live stock in June, 1916, was $17,000. Here is an item I call 
your attention to : For the purchase of live stock we spent over 
a thousand dollars a year, with sales of live stock to June, 1916, 
amounting to $14,000. The average increase in the inventory 



110 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Best Silage 
Foods for 
Coastal Plain 
States 



Experiments 
With Grasses 



has amounted to about $1,700. So far it has been a pretty good 
financial proposition. 

Now, as to the work of the College in taking it to the people : 
This is a summary of the work by the county agents. Our 
county agents have inoculated hogs and cattle for cholera to the 
number of about 65,000. The pure bred animals purchased 
through the county agents and the specialists of the Department 
of Agriculture, who are co-operating with these men, has 
amounted in the past year to over 7,000 head brought into the 
state ; and that is where we are trying to correct the low valua- 
tion in live stock. 

Now, in regard to the food proposition : We have been ad- 
vocating the building of silos over the state of Georgia, and we 
are advocating, as a crop for the Coastal Plain, a mixture of 
kaffir corn and sorghum. We have suggested the red head 
sorghum and the black kaffir corn. 

The silage and velvet bean, we believe, solves the problem 
of carrying the animal in the Coastal Plain region at least 
through the winter months. The problem, as we see it, is that 
it is a limiting factor in cattle production in the Coastal Plain 
region, and it is a limiting factor especially in the months of 
July, August and September. Now, if we can solve that prob- 
lem; I believe we can help establish on a permanent basis the 
cattle business of the South. 

We started out to make an inventory of what we had and 
what could be utilized, and we have a young man who is spend- 
ing part of his time studying the growth of the Coastal Plain 
section ; and, incidentally, there we found one man who had 
been for the past fifteen years utilizing a pasture of grass and 
lespedeza with apparently pretty good success. That probably 
will not be adopted except in a limited area, but in that area it 
might be a solution of the problem. At the present time we are 
recommending the carpet grass, as Dr. Piper suggested. The 
only two grasses we have found, of the ordinary tame grasses, 
that justify continuous work with them is the red top and 
meadow grass. In one case we have gotten good results from 
work of that kind. 

We have two areas in the Coastal Plain in which we are 
trying to study in a similar way the forage crop situation for 
that section of the state, and we hope before a great while to be 
able to increase this and to do more work. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 111 

Now, just a word on a proposition that was brought up here 
yesterday, and that was the size of farm that is going to be profit- 
able on these cut-over lands. We had submitted to us not a 
great while ago a plan to buy some of this cut-over land, fence 
it off in forty-acre tracts, build a barn and house, and sell it to 
prospective settlers, and they asked our opinion on it. That let- 
ter was referred to me to answer, and I answered it in this way : 
"We have made a survey in the southern part of the state which 
showed that the men who were cultivating fifty acres or less had 
a labor income of about $200. The men cultivating 200 acres 
had an income of between $600 and $700. Would you rather 
take a chance of getting your money back from the man who 
made $200 or the man who got $600 or $700?" 

We are also co-operating with the railroads in developing a 
few farms along their line of route where their scheme is this : 
The railroads go to this man and say, if you will follow our in- 
structions we will guarantee you against loss up to $200. They ^j^/j ^^g 
come to the College and ask us to outline the work, and that is Railroads 
being carried on under the supervision of one of the graduates 
of the College and is paid for by the railroads. This work has 
just begun, and we hope in a year or so to have several more of 
these farms. 

It might be of some interest to you to know what some of 
the men grazing this cut-over land are making. We have a rec- 
ord of one man who is cultivating 750 acres. He is renting, in 
addition, 1,000 acres of cut-over* land for pasture. His record 
showed a labor income of $6,000, 36 per cent of that coming 
from his live stock. By gathering information of that kind the 
College hopes to be, in a way, of some help in this development. 
(Applause.) 



Nation De- 



112 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Beef Cattle and Hogs 

By George M. Rommel 

Chief, Animal Husbandry Division, United States 
Department of Agriculture 

It seems to me that the question of meat production in the 
South is one of the most important questions which the nation 
has before it today. I will not burden you with a great many 
tiresome statistics, but I want to point out a few of the high 
lights of our meat trade at the present time. In the fiscal year 
ending June 30, 1914, we exported less than seven million pounds 
of fresh beef. In the next fiscal year we exported over 170 mil- 
lion pounds of fresh beef; and in the last fiscal year over 231 
million pounds ; the value of our meat exports in these years grew 
from 143 million dollars in 1914 to 266 million dollars in 1916. In 
the fiscal year 1914 we imported a normal amount of wool — ^245 
nmnds More "^il^io" pounds. In the fiscal year 1916 we imported 525 million 
Meat Prodiic- pounds. Furthermore, I am told, not officially, that the meat 
tion ration of a soldier in the trenches in Europe is ten ounces per day. 

There are something in the neighborhood of 25 million soldiers in 
that section being fed better than they were ever fed before in their 
lives. The United States is already planning to put an army of two 
million men in the field, all of whom will be fed as well, if not 
better, than the armies of the nations of Europe. This enormous 
increase in our meat exports and in our wool imports has largely 
been brought about by the demands of warfare, and I candidly say 
to you, is there any problem which could more earnestly engage 
our attention than the question of how to meet this demand with- 
out starving the civilian population and allowing them to go with- 
out proper food and clothing? 

Now, gentlemen, I come to the question of beef production, 
and in approaching this question I wish to make my position 
exactly clear so that what I will have to say will not be misun- 
derstood. 

It seems to me that a great many of the speakers who have 
been discussing the question of the utilization of these cut-over 
lands have been thinking on too small a scale. I make that state- 
ment in no spirit of criticism, but as a statement of fact. If 
there is one thing, Mr. Chairman, for which this convention has 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



113 



been remarkable, it is the seriousness, the earnestness of discus- 
sion and the directness with which the speakers have approached 
the point. We have had an unusual absence of whati we are 
pleased to call "hot air." Now, at the risk of offending in this 
very respect, I wish to indulge in a few figures. The acreage, 
as generally agreed upon, is 76 million acres of cut-over timber 
lands on the Coastal Plain and contiguous territories. That 
doesn't mean much to me, because I can't think in millions ; 
some men can, but I can't. But when I ran through a table 
showing the acreage of the states in the South I was staggered. 
Do you realize that that acreage is half the acreage of the entire 
state of Texas? Do you realize you can take the entire state of 
Florida, add the state of Georgia and take a chunk out of South 
Carolina, and you would have an acreage representing the acre- 
age of these cut-over lands? Furthermore, your secretary told me 
at lunch today that that acreage is being added to at the rate of 
10 million acres a year, and that ultimately we will have added to 
the 76 million acres which we now have an acreage of 250 million 
acres, a total that is larger, gentlemen, than the present unallotted, 
unused, unassigned, undeveloped acreage of the public range in 
the West ; an empire, if you please, in extent ; in area equal to 
almost any ten of your Southern states; and nothing is being 
done with it. Now, this Conference, as I understand it, has 
been called to consider a constructive plan of development. I 
cannot tell you how much I appreciate what Dean Dodson said 
on this subject — when a man who stands as he does in the state 
and nation stands before you and tells you what he told you, 
then any damn Yankee that comes down from the North can feel 
pretty safe in taking such a position. (Applause.) 

I grant you, gentlemen, the correctness of the position set 
forth in that splendid paper written by Mr. Graves, the Chief 
Forester of the United States. This problem has three phases — 
reforestation, grazing and agriculture. What is being done now 
in reforestation? You know better than I do. What can be 
done in agriculture? The statement has been made here, uncon- 
tradicted, that only 15 million acres — only one-fifth of the present 
available area — are suitable for agricultural development at the 
present time. What are you going to do with the other four- 
fifths? You are not reforesting it. It seems to me that leaves it 
open to either one of the three possibilities, straight farming, 
cattle raising or sheep raising. 



Cut-Over 
Lands Cover 
an Empire 



Cut-Over Area 
Increasing 
Ten Million 
Acres a Year 



What Shall 
We Do With 
It? 



114 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Where Agri- 
culture is Im- 
practicable 



Live Stock 
Raising Will 
Solve 
Problem 



Now furthermore, just for the sake of illustration, suppose 
that the entire 76 million acres were available for agriculture, 
and suppose that we tried to get into effect that splendid ideal 
of the government's public land policy — a family on each forty 
acres and each family supporting itself — suppose you could 
realize that ideal. Dividing the 76 million by 40 acres leaves you 
1,875,000 tracts, and will anyone tell you where we will get 1,- 
875,000 families to settle this land on a forty acre basis? It 
would be impossible. This problem is now. We can't look 
25 or 50 years hence when we may have a surplus of farmers. 
Furthermore, we can't go to the cities and bring men from the 
cities to settle on these lands. 

That brings me to another point : If there is one thing that 
the United States is going to learn from its entrance into the war 
it is that we are no longer provincial ; we are coming to learn 
that we have an obligation owing not only to our neighbors in 
our country, but that we owe an obligation to the world itself. 
We are coming to learn that we cannot take from another without 
giving something in return. We are not getting any more immi- 
gration ; it stopped at the beginning of the war. About a month 
before I left Washington the statement was published by the 
Bureau of Immigration that a large emigration from the United 
States was expected when the war closed ; that the steamship 
agencies already are swamped with bookings for people to go 
back to their countries and carry the atmosphere of freedom back 
to the lands where they were born. We cannot confidently look 
to immigration as a source of settlers for cut-over lands. That 
compels a line of development closely related to present available 
labor supplies. It seems, therefore, that the development of 
these lands on a strictly farming basis is a matter of the some- 
what distant future. The most promising immediate develop- 
ment is along live stock lines, particularly with beef cattle and 
sheep. 

Now then, understand that when I make this statement I am 
making it as an animal expert, but I have tried, as well as any 
specialist can, to see this matter in a broad, comprehensive light; 
but I cannot get away from the idea that the one plan for devel- 
opment at this time, on these cut-over timber lands, is to develop 
live stock raising on a comprehensive and broad-minded scale. This 
territory is what you might call a virgin territory. It is closely 
analogous to the great plains of the West fifty years ago. The 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 115 

land is there, and the first thing to do in this development is to 
follow the most promising line that offers. 

There has been only one speaker at this Conference — and 
I make this statement without any spirit of criticism — there has 
been only one speaker who has even hinted that the question of 
labor is going to cut any figure here. We know what we can do 
in the way of raising crops for hogs. There is a lot of informa- 
tion on the success of live stock farming under intensified condi- 
tions, such as Mr. Enochs described; but, gentlemen, you are talk- 
ing in terms of 76 million acres, not in terms of 160 or 320 or 640 
acres. You are deaHng in big things. It is a tremendous propo- 
sition. This is no child's play ; it is a man's game ; and it is a game 
that will call for all the brains and intelligence that can be brought 
into it. 

Meat production in the United States has not been keeping 
pace with the increase in population. Without burdening you Nation's 
with a large array of statistical information, I will simply call Scarcity of 
your attention to the number of meat animals in the country in ^^' 
1900, 1910 and 1917. 

In round numbers there were reported in the 1900 census 
seventeen million dairy cows and fifty million "other" cattle, the 
latter being principally beef cattle. In 1910 there were twenty 
million dairy cows and forty-one million other cattle. In 1917 
there were twenty-two million milch cows and forty million other 
cattle. 

We observe that there has been a considerable increase in 
the number of milch cows, from seventeen million to twenty-two 
million in seventeen years, an increase of almost thirty per cent. 
On the other hand, in the case of beef cattle there has been a 
decrease of over nine million head, or eighteen per cent. 

Of sheep, the country possessed in 1900 sixty-one million 
head; in 1910 fifty-two million head, and in 1917 forty-eight mil- 
Hon head, a decrease of thirteen million head. In the case of 
swine, on the other hand, we see an increase. In 1900 there Sheep 
were sixty-two million head ; in 1910 fifty-eight million head ; in Decreasing; 
1917 sixty-seven million head, a net increase of five million head. , 
These figures are taken from the census figures, and from the 
estimates of the Department of Agriculture. An accurate statis- 
tical comparability is impossible, on account of the different con- 
ditions under which the two censuses were compiled, the dates at 



116 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

which the figures were gathered, and the different systems used 
in, obtaining the figures. However, light is obtained on the same 
subject from the reports of meat animals slaughtered under fed- 
eral inspection at packing plants throughout the country. The 
following table shows the number of establishments and the total 
number of animals inspected at slaughter under federal inspection 
annually from the beginning of inspection in the fiscal year 1907, 
up to and including the fiscal year ended June 30, 1916: 

NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND TOTAL NUMBER 

OF ANIMALS INSPECTED AT SLAUGHTER UNDER 

FEDERAL INSPECTION ANNUALLY, 1907-1916. 

Fiscal Year Establishments Cattle Calves 

1907 708 7,621,717 1,763,574 

1908 787 7,116,275 1,995,487 

1909 876 7,325,337 2,046,711 

1910 919 7,962,189 2,295,099 

1911 936 7,781,030 2,219,908 

1912 940 7,532,005 2,242,929 

1913 910 7,155,816 2,098,484 

1914 893 6,724,117 1,814,904 

1915 896 6,964,402 1,735,902 

1916 875 7,404,288 2,048,022 

Swine Sheep Goats All Animals 

31,815,900 9,681,876 52,149 50,935,216 

35,113,077 9,702,545 45,953 53,973,337 

35,427,931 10,802,903 69,193 55,672,075 

27,656,021 11,149,937 115,811 49,179,057 

29,916,363 13,005.502 54,145 52,976,948 

34,966,378 14,208,724 63,983 59,014,019 

32,287,538 14,724,465 56,556 56,322,859 

33,289,705 14,958,834 121,827 56,909,387 

36,247,958 12,909,089 165,533 58,022,884 

40,482,799 11,985,926 180,355 62,101,391 

There were 7,621.717 cattle slaughtered for inspection in the 
year 1907 ; in the year 1910 this number had increased to 7,962,189, 
from which point there has been a tendency to decrease, until 
the year 1915. The number slaughtered in the year 1916 was 
7,404,288, which is 200,000 less than in the year 1907. The 
slaughter of calves is not significant. The slaughter of swine. 



The Dawn of a N ew Constructive Era 1_^ 

on the other hand is profoundly significant, a general tendency 

to increase being noticed from the year 1907, when 31,815,900 

head of swine were inspected, to the year 1916, when 40,482,799 

were inspected, an increase of almost nine million head. Sheep, 

on the other hand, show an increase to the year 1914, when 14,- "oosjjev^ent^ 

958,834 were inspected, from which time the decrease has been '^^^^^^^^ 

pronounced, a total of 11,985,926 being reported for the last fiscal 

year as against 9,681,876 in 1907. The total number of animals 

inspected at slaughter has increased from 50,935,216 in 1907 to 

62,101,391 in 1916, 77.62 per cent of this being due to the mcrease 

in swine slaughterings. 

Up to the outbreak of the great war, our population was in- 
creasing at the rate of twenty-five per cent per decade. The sig- 
nificance of these figures is therefore apparent. There is no doubt 
that our producers of beef cattle are doing everything which is 
economically possible at the present time to increase the output, 
but they have not yet overcome the effects of the depression of 
'ten years ago. The increase in pork production, which has been 
rapid during the last ten years, is all that has saved the country 
from a most serious meat shortage. The per capita consumption 
of meat in the United States has actually decreased during this 
time. Any head of a family on a moderate income can bear wit- 
ness to this fact. 

The entire problem is an economic one. Confining our atten- 
tion solely to beef and pork production, we may observe that 
hogs are much more economical animals to produce on the farm 
than beef cattle. The classic investigations of Lawes and Gilbert 
showed that a steer required 777 pounds of digestible organic 
matter to make 100 pounds of increase in live weight, whereas a 
pig required only 353 pounds of digestible matter to make a sim- j^^^^^^y ,•„ 
ilar gain. Expressed in another way, Jordan has shown that the p-^ Raising 
pig returns 25 pounds of marketable product for each one hun- 
dred pounds of digestible matter consumed, of which 15.6 pounds 
are edible solids, whereas a steer returns only 8.3 pounds of mar- 
ketable product, of which only 2.8 pounds are digestible solids. 
This greater economy of production for feed consumed accounts 
for the large increase in pork production on the high-priced lands 
of the corn belt, while beef production there has been almost at 
a standstill. 

Cattle, however, are a necessity in economical farm manage- 
ment, when large quantities of unmarketable roughage are pro- 



118 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

duced. The high-priced corn belt farms produce tremendous 
quantities of corn stover and large amounts of straw. Formerly 
these products were largely wasted, but the necessity to get re- 
turns on the heavy investment now requires their conservation. 
The silo, the stover shredder, rations in which straw forms an 
important part, and other methods of conservation have become 
necessary. Nothing takes the place of cattle in so utilizing 
coarse, unmarketable forage. Whether the cattle will be used 
for beef production or dairy production depends entirely upon 
labor, marketing and transportation conditions. 

The problem of the economy of pork production in the 
South is solved to a large extent. The increase in the number of 
hogs in Southern territory has been a striking feature of the 
agriculture of that section during recent years. One of the most 
interesting reports of this character is found in the percentage 
of hogs in the country on January 1, 1916, as compared with Jan- 
Hog Produc- ^^^^ ^' ^^^^- ^^ that time there were fourteen states which re- 
tion in South ported an increase of ten per cent, or more in the number of hogs 
Increasing on January 1, 1916. Of these fourteen states, only two were 
strictly corn belt states, and of the remaining twelve, five were 
Southern states, namely. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
Louisiana and Texas. The increase during the last calendar year 
was not so pronounced, largely on account of the high prices for 
hogs prevailing during the year 1916, but there is no reason to be- 
lieve that the tendency in Southern states to increase the number 
of hogs has yet reached its maximum. 

For convenient reference I am including here a table of 
figures from the Department of Agriculture, showing the increase 
in the number of hogs in Southern states from 1914 to 1917. 

NUMBER OF HOGS JANUARY 1. 

1914 1915 1916 1917 Increase 

Maryland .. 332,000 349,000 359,000 359,000 27,000 

Virginia. . . 869,000 956,000 1,023,000 1,023,000 154,000 

W.Virginia. 367,000 374,000 378,000 380,000 13,000 

N. Carolina. 1,362,000 1,525,000 1,550,000 1.550,000 188,000 

S. Carolina. 780,000 819,000 870,000 920,000 140,000 

Georgia.... 1,945,000 2,042,000 2,348,000 2,585,000 640,000 

Florida 904,000 949,000 996,000 1,100,000 196,000 

Tennessee. . 1,320,000 1,501,000 1,531,000 1,485,000 165,000 



The Dawn 


of a New 


Constructive Era 




119 




1914 


1915 


1916 


1917 


Increase 


Alabama. . . 


1,485,000 


1,559,000 


1,715,000 


1,850,000 


365,000 


Mississippi. 


. 1,467,000 


1,540,000 


1,617,000 


1,698,000 


231,000 


Louisiana. . 


. 1,398,000 


1,412,000 


1,553,000 


1,584,000 


186,000 


Texas 


, 2,618,000 


2,880,000 


3,197,000 


3,229,000 


611,000 


Oklahoma. . 


. 1,352,000 


1,420,000 


1,491,000 


3,372,000 


20,000 


Arkansas. . . 


. 1,498,000 


1,573,000 


1,589,000 


1,575,000 


77,000 



Total. . ..17,697,000 18,890,000 20,217,000 20,710,000 3,013,000 

The control of hog cholera is no more difficult in the South 
than in the corn belt, but the control of parasitic pests, both in- 
ternal and external, requires more careful attention than in the 
North. Economical pork production in the South is based on the 
use of forage crops and the proper use of these crops in rotation 
helps materially in handling the problem of internal parasites. 

In many sections peanuts are largely used for grazing hogs, 
resulting in the production of an oily pork. Mast-fed hogs have 
long been subject to "dockage" on sale. Now the peanut hog has 
joined this tabooed company and all Southern hogs reach North- 
ern markets under suspicion. So long as the fresh pork market 
is as strong as it is at the present time, this condition does not „ . , 
preclude profitable hog production. Sooner or later, however, the f /^;s/,j^„ g^. 
problem must be solved, and methods of finishing devised which ing Solved 
will harden the meat of hogs raised on forage crops which pro- 
duce fats with low melting points. This is undoubtedly the most 
serious problem in Southern pork production. A similar problem 
was satisfactorily solved by Danish and Canadian scientists, and a 
number of investigators in the Southern field, notably Gray, of 
North Carolina, are now engaged upon it. There is no reason 
to believe that it will not be solved in due time. 

The first great problem in Southern beef production is tick 
eradication. This problem, is now fairly on its way to the half- 
mile post. Needless to say, the second half will be made in much 
better time than the first. It must be admitted, however, that the 
first territory to be cleared of tick infestation was the territory 
which was most promising for cattle production, or in which 
a certain amount of cattle production has been in progress for 
a considerable time. From one standpoint, the easy work has 
been done, and the territory still under quarantine includes some 
sections in which tick eradication work will be extremely difficult. 



120 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

To offset this difficulty we may observe that full ten years have 
been taken to accomplish what has already been done. A large 
amount of this time has been consumed in educational propa- 
ganda. The education which the country has received as to the 
value of tick eradication will undoubtedly go a long way toward 
overcoming the natural obstacles which confront the eradicators 
in the territory still under quarantine. The wisdom of the policy 
Tick Being lof the past shows clearly, and the merit of the movement is 
Eliminated as ^ow generally recognized. With the majority of men, women 
^ ^^ and children in the South now recognizing the importance of get- 

ting rid of the cattle tick, a much larger amount of the effort of 
the next ten years can be spent in active tick eradication work. 
The tick-free area has now reached the sea coast and by the end 
of the present calendar year we may expect to see released from 
quarantine at least one state which was in 1906 entirely tick- 
infested. This event will add to the impetus of the movement in 
other states and state-wide tick-.eradication laws will not only 
appear on the statute books of all states where tick quarantine 
exists, but they will be sincerely and energetically administered. 

We are thus rapidly adding to the country's tick-free terri- 
tory. However, the common assumption that the eradication of 
Tick Eradica- the cattle tick automatically adds just so much area to the cattle- 
tion and the producing territory, is not exactly true. A large portion of the 
Cattle Pro- territory which has been released from quarantine during the last 
, " ten years has always produced cattle of sorts, but in much of the 

territory from which the tick is still to be driven out, the profit- 
able production of beef cattle has been practically unknown. 

Let me make myself exactly clear on this point. I admit the 
fact that in some sections which are primarily pasture sections, 
beef cattle have been profitably produced where ticks have been 
present and the infestation light, and considerable progress has 
been made in breeding up native stock by the use of purebred 
bulls. It is also a fact that in some sections where the "piney- 
woods" cattle are common, the owners have made a profit. It is 
still possible, no doubt, for a few individuals to make a living 
from cattle of this type, but such a business, regarded in the 
broad light of economics, cannot be said to be profitable as an 
industry. If the proper charge had been made for the use of 
the land over which these cattle grazed, the profit in their pro- 
duction would probably be reduced to zero. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 1^1 

Methods of finishing cattle for market have been well, worked 
out in certain sections of the South, and the possible profit by 
some of these methods was definitely shown, while the land on 
which the work was done was still under quarantine. We must 
admit, however, that a large portion of the area below the original 
quarantine line is not yet ready for the fattening of cattle. Until ^^outn^^a 
corn is produced in quantity and cheaply, or until other finishmg p-j,gf,Qj.ade 
feeds equally cheap and equally efficient, are produced, the raising battle 
of beef cattle for finishing elsewhere must be the chief feature of 
the beef business of the South. This is particularly true of the 
^ut-over timber lands, and it is this territory which I have in 
mind in making the foregoing remarks concerning the econom- 
ical production of beef cattle in quarantined territory. 

What do we really know about the cattle raising possibilities 
of these cut-over timber lands? The fact that piney-woods cattle 
rano-e over them with little or no charge for the range, proves 
nothing from a business standpoint, except that the climatic con- 
ditions do not inhibit the growth of cattle. I might also say that 
the fact that men have reached a considerable degree of success in 
the production of pure-bred cattle in the South on cut-over timber 
lands proves only one thing, and that is that the South can pro- 
duce just as good pure-bred beef cattle as any other section of 
the country, but it sheds very little light on the question of the 
utilization of 76 million acres of these lands. This is a ranching 
problem, a grazing problem. 

If I may digress a moment, I venture the opinion that the 
presence of these native cattle in considerable numbers will be 
found to be an advantage when conditions are ready for the 
systematic development of an economic cattle raising industry. Native Cattle 
These native cows are hardy, acclimated, and will become a an Asset 
splendid foundation on which to build the cattle industry of the 
future. This native blood responds quickly to crossing with well- 
bred bulls, and in the course of a few systematic crosses, high 
grades will result which will be quite valuable as feeders. 

This much we know, but before we can advise capital to 
invest extensively in the cattle business on cut-over timber lands, 
we must be sure that the cost of faking these lands suitable for 
cattle production will not be so great as to prevent the enterprise 
from being profitable under proper management. I understand 
that the cost of ridding the land of stumps has been pretty well 



122 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

worked out. The cost of fencing can very readily be ascertained. 
These and similar points being determined, we are at once face 
to face with the question of the productive value which these 
lands may then have for cattle grazing. By this time you are 
probably of the opinion that I am a doleful prophet, and that I am 
Sees South as throwing cold water on the idea of developing these lands for cat- 
Nation's New ^le production. Far from it. I have for more than ten years main- 
La e Loiin- ^^^ined that our most promising future source of considerable 
increase in beef cattle production in this country is in the South- 
ern territory south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi rivers. 
The Western range has reached its capacity. The increase in 
production in the corn belt has not kept pace with the increase in 
population, and in order to supply the corn-producing sections 
with feeders at reasonable prices we must look to development in 
the South. 

Regarding the territory as a whole, the cut-over timber lands 
are by nature promising for cattle producing purposes. But these 
cut-over timber lands at present do not produce cattle econom- 
ically, and they will not produce cattle economically until the 
grass-producing possibilities of these lands are thoroughly dem- 
onstrated. 

Granted, then, that for a somewhat long time to come, cattle 
raising rather than cattle fattening will prevail in the South as a 
whole, it is apparent that after tick eradication, the problem of 
most pressing importance, particularly in the cut-over timber 
country, will be the maintenace of the herds which will be estab- 
More and Bet- lished on the tick-freed areas. This maintenance problem has 
ter Pasturage ^^v^o phases — the pasture period and the wintering period. The 
ssen lal pasture problem must be solved before the promised development 

of the Southern cattle industry becomes an accomplished fact. 
Not only in the cut-over timber lands, but elsewhere throughout 
the South, the pasture problem presents itself as the most im- 
portant feature after the tick eradication problem is solved. 

The botanical features of native Southern forage plants are, 
of course, well known. The adaptability of certain imported 
ones is also fairly well understood, but there is a very great deal 
to learn of the relative merits of different plants, their behavior 
when pastured, their proper management under pasture, and their 
productive value as pasture plants. 

Just one question is a fair example of the importance of 
these problems, and this one question crystallizes everything 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 123 

which I have said on this subject. How many acres of cut-over Seven to Ten 
timber land are necessary to carry a cow through the season? Do ^^^^^ to a 
you know? I do not, and I have never met a man who does. 

By way of explanation, let me say that this was written 
before I had the pleasure of meeting our good friend, Mr. Thomp- 
son, of Texas. Mir. Thompson was the first man able to give me 
an intelligent answer to that question. He said yesterday that 
when they started on that 60,0(X)-acre tract in Trinity and Polk 
Counties, in Texas, they estimated they would carry one cow on 
every fifteen acres; but he says that he has found they can almost 
cut it in two, and now they estimate that around seven to ten acres 
will be required to keep a cow for the season. 

The first thought which an investor should consider before 
going into cattle raising in these sections, is this very question. 
It therefore seems incumbent on all of us who are interested in 
this problem to bend every effort to bring about a speedy accumu- 
lation of accurate information on the pasture question, and the 
problem should be^ studied under different types of conditions, 
each type related to the whole, so that when we have accumulated 
data, it will not be fragmentary, but each part will fill a niche in 
the construction of the entire structure. 

The wintering problem does not give one nearly so much 
concern as does the problem of pasturing through the growing 
season. The wintering problem can be solved by foresight. We 
are apt to overlook the fact that during the short winter in the 
South, losses among cattle may be quite as serious as on the 
ranges of the West, unless owners have fortified themselves with 
a sufficient supply of feed to carry the animals through. Under 
the best climatic conditions, cattle of the age of yearlings up, 
will lose from fifty to one hundred pounds during the winter 
when forced to subsist on cotton-stalk fields and cane brakes. Plenty of 
When winter conditions such as occurred during the winter of Feed in Win- 
1916-17 prevail, heavy losses result. Thousands of cows died in ^^ **^" ^^ 
the South during the past winter. The weather had something 
to do with these deaths, but shortage of feed was the principal 
cause. All this loss might have been prevented if one of two 
things had been done: First, if the owner had not stocked up 
with more cattle than he had feed for; second, if he had taken 
precaution to provide sufficient feed in advance to carry the cows 
through the winter. In any cattle enterprise on cut-over lands. 



124 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Systematic 
Study of Pas- 
turage Prob- 
lem Urged 



How Prompt 
Results May 
Be Obtained 



selected areas can doubtless be found on which feed production 
can be economically carried on to produce a sufficient quantity of 
hay and silage to carry the cows through the winter. Where an 
owner is caught with more cattle than he has feed for, he is in a 
serious predicament. A sufficient supply of silage and hay, silage 
and cottonseed meal, or even of hay alone, would have been cheap 
insurance against the losses of last winter. 

As a constructive suggestion, it is advised that the pasture 
problem be attacked without delay in a systematic, thorough and 
practical manner, co-operatively by the agronomist and the animal 
husbandman. This plan need not be unduly expensive. It should 
be carried out in a simple, thorough way. Any studies which are 
made should be made under field conditions. They should be sys- 
tematically located and carried on at a sufficient number of points 
so that the influence of different types of soil, topography and cli- 
mate will receive adequate attention. Furthermore, there should be 
such a co-ordination of effort that the results obtained at any 
given point will shed light on the problem as a whole. We 
are all agreed, I take it, that the problem is urgent. It is 
therefore necessary that results be obtained promptly which 
will answer the questions of most pressing importance in a 
minimum of time. No plan should be adopted which will 
necessitate a large amount of preliminary detail work in the 
way of providing equipment and facilities. Sufficient num- 
bers of cattle should be used to make each experiment in it- 
self of commercial importance. That is to say, in the case of 
stockers, the number should be at least a carload in every ex- 
periment; in the case of studies on the maintenance of a breeding 
herd, a herd with a minimum of at least fifty cows, should be 
used, so that at least a carload of cattle would be produced by 
each breeding unit each year. The methods and equipment used 
should be such that successful results can be immediately applied 
to the business on a large scale. The experiments should be 
planned primarily from a business standpoint, and none should be 
attempted which do not promise in all probability, under com- 
petent management, to show a profit. All records should be kept 
with systematic care and precision by the methods now commonly 
accepted as standard for such work. The record keeping feature 
of the work is not properly chargeable against the cattle on 
experiment and constitutes the principal item of overhead ex- 
pense. Properly handled, the receipts from sales of cattle used 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 125 

in such a series of experiments can be made to pay a large pro- 
portion of the expenses of the work. 

The Chairman : Are there any inquiries ? 

A Delegate: Is it necessary to stable cattle in the South? 

Air. Rommel : Not necessarily. It is always an advantage 
to shelter cattle in storms. I have always insisted on this : If 
you give an animal a dry place to sleep, shelter from the storms, 
and plenty to eat, you will get along all right through the winter- 
time; and all you need is a simple shelter for the cattle, as they 
ought to have a dry place to sleep, and where they will not be 
exposed to storms. These storms which you have down here are 
almost as severe on the cattle as the more severe storms in the 
more northern sections. 



A Survey of the Live Stock 
Situation 

By Dr. Andrew M. Soule 

President of the College of Agriculture of the 
State of Georgia 

Statistics are unpalatable to the average man. They do not 
seem to appeal to his imagination. They are too matter of fact 
and not sufficiently spectacular to interest him. Yet their consid- 
eration is basic to ascertaining the true status of any business or 
industry. The general dislike for statistics is in large measure 
due to the difficulty of their ready assimilation. To understand • 
them requires careful study, and this the average farmer or busi- False Philos- 
ness man has not been ready to bestow upon them, because like op/jy Danger- 
the English, he has always muddled through somehow. This ^"^ 
indifference to statistics accounts in large degree for our woeful 
lack of a proper appreciation of the true economic situation which 
confronts us as a people. We are surprised and startled when we 
learn that the food supply has become circumscribed and that the 
cost of living has advanced in such an alarming manner. It has 
been much easier in the past to follow the false reasoning and 
"spread-eagleism" of the orator or to swallow bodily the absurd 



126 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

explanations offered by the demagogue until at last we have 
reached a point where these things no longer act as palliatives 
and we are face to face with the necessity of studying and solving 
economic questions through the exercise of the highest intelli- 
gence and skill which we as a nation are in position to bring to 
their correct solution. I have no apologies to offer, therefore, for 
the statistical data presented in this paper, as I consider it nec- 
essary to the elucidation of the discussion which follows. 

A survey of the live stock situation must, of necessity, deal 
with the past, present and future conditions and possibilities of 
this industry in the South. In this connection, it is proper to state 
that this discussion is based on a consideration of the number of 
live stock held on the farms in the following fifteen states as taken 
from the 1910 census : Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. 

Animals in Southern States 1910. 

Number Value 

ParA^nThl ^^^""^ '^^^^ 5,651,000 $149,462,000 

Nation's Live Other cattle 13,795,000 216,993,000 

Stock Indus- Sheep 7,196,000 25,574,000 

try Swine 18,374,000 80,670,000 

Total 45,016,000 $472,699,000 

Animals in United States 1910. 

Number Value 

Dairy cows 20,625,000 $706,236,000 

Other cattle 41,178,000 793,287,000 

Sheep 52,447,000 232,841,000 

Swine 58,185,000 399,338,000 

Total 172,435,000 $2,131,702,000 

It appears that in 1910, there were 45,016,000 head of live 

Live Stock stock, worth $472,699,000, owned on Southern farms. At that 

Values Double time, there were 172,435,000 head of live stock on all the farms in 

in Six Years t^e United States, worth $2,131,702,000. It appears that a little 

more than one-fourth of the live stock owned in the United States 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 127 

was in the South, while they had a value of less than one-fourth 
of the total value of all the animals owned in the United States. 

On January 1, 1917, according to the Bureau of Crop Esti- 
mates, the live stock in the Southern states numbered 48,171,000 
and were worth $877,643,000. The number of animals in the 
United States was 179,553,000, worth $3,961,527,000. There was 
an increase for the country as a whole, therefore, in numbers, of 
7,118,000, and in value, of^ $1,829,825,000. In other words, while 
the increase in live stock as a whole is relatively small, the value 
almost doubled. 

Animals in the Southern States 1916. 

Number Value 

Dairy cows 5,889,000 $276,085,000 

Other cattle 13,005,000 365.747,000 

Sheep 6,978,000 37.047,000 

Swine 22,299,000 198,764,000 



48,171,000 $877,643,000 
Animals in United States 1916. 

Number Value 

Dairy cows 22,768,000 $1,358,435,000 

Other cattle 40,849.000 1,465,786,000 

Sheep 48,483,000 346,064,000 

Swine 67,453.000 791,242,000 



179,553,000 $3,961,527,000 

During the six years under discussion, the number of animals 
in the South increased by 3,155,000, as compared with 7,118,000 
for the United States. There was also a very substantial increase 
in value, amounting roughly to $405,000,000. In the matter of 
gain in numbers, the South more than held its own, but did not . 
make much progress as compared with other sections of the ^Qj-iqaae 
country in an increased valuation of its live stock. An analysis of Lifter 
the figures shows that there was quite a substantial gain in the 
number of dairy cows, amounting to 238,000 head. In the number 
of beef cattle there was a loss of 790,000 head. Sheep also de- 
clined by 218,000. Hogs increased by 4,025,000 head. It is grati- 
fying to observe that the hog industry is being recognized at 



128 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Decline in 
Beef Cattle 
and Sheep 



Room for 
150,000,000 
Sheep in the 
South 



its face value, and that this line of animal husbandry is being 
systematically advanced throughout the South. The hog is a 
mortgage lifter in the truest sense of the word, and will pay the 
farmer as large a return on his investment in as short a time as 
he can obtain from any other class of stock. As a means towards 
increasing the food supply and adequately feeding our own peo- 
ple, building up the income of our farms, and enabling us to di- 
versify and rotate our crops in a satisfactory manner and reduce 
or overcome the losses which the boll weevil may cause in various 
states, let us encourage swine husbandry in every legitimate man- 
ner. If we do this, many of our most difficult problems will be 
satisfactorily solved. 

It may be surprising to many that there should have been a 
decrease in beef cattle of 790,000 head. This is a grave economic 
mistake and must be corrected if the South is to become perma- 
nently prosperous and successful. It is all the more regrettable 
that this decrease in beef cattle should have occurred in view of 
the great success which has attended the campaign for tick eradi- 
cation, and the relatively large area which has been set free as a 
result of this work which has been carried forward by the federal 
Bureau of Animal Industry, in co-operation with the several 
states. The decrease in the number of sheep on Southern farms 
is also to be greatly regretted. There is no explanation for such 
a condition save the fact that the worthless cur has been allowed 
to flourish at the expense of the "golden hoof" of the sheep. In 
England sheep are grown by the millions on lands similar to 
thousands of acres unadapted for general cultivation to be found 
in the South, yet which are susceptible of producing a fine variety 
of grass and forage crops. In England sheep are raised for 
mutton and the wool is a surplus crop. There is no reason why 
this industry should not be established on similar lines in the 
South. Where Great Britain, with an area of 120,000 square 
miles, maintains, roughly speaking, between twenty and twenty- 
five million head of sheep, we in the South are maintaining less 
than seven million on 899,747 square miles. On a comparative 
basis, the South should be maintaining over 150,000,000 head of 
sheep, or between five and six for each inhabitant. At the present 
time, England is maintaining one sheep for each two of her popu- 
lation. Is it any wonder that the cost of living should be rapidly 
increasing; that meat should become in some senses of the word 
scarce and so high-priced that the average individual cannot use 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 129 

it freely; or that the cost of woolen clothing should reach such 
exorbitant figures? The writer likes dogs, believing them to be 
one of the most wholesome and desirable of all pets, but the dog 
should not be given free range to destroy Avhat should be one 
of the country's most important industries. We have literally 
thrown sheep to the dogs. When will we come to our senses and 
confine or destroy the worthless cur and give the golden-hoofed 
sheep a chance to aid in the agricultural emancipation of the 
South and in the restoration of much of our worn and gullied 
lands which now lie practically idle? Surely this situation can 
not continue much longer. It is too much out of joint with the Throwing 
times. Surely some Moses will arise to lead us to see the light ^ 
and act in a rational manner towards the solution of this question 
and the establishment of sheep husbandry on some basis com- 
mensurate with our opportunities and the needs of the South and 
the nation as a whole. 

The question naturally arises as to the relation of animal 
husbandries in the South compared to the population as a whole. 
In other words, what are we doing towards providing ourselves 
with animal food as compared with other sections of the country? 
As already pointed out, the area of the fifteen southern states is 
899,747 square miles. The area of the United States is 3,026,789 
square miles. The South, therefore, comprises practically one- 
third of the total area of the United States. In 1910 the popula- 
tion of the United States was 91,972,266, and of the South, 
28,855,939, or a little less than one-third of the total population. 
We possessed, according to the figures of 1916, about one-fourth '^arns South 
of the dairy cows, about one-third of the beef cattle, about one- °' ^ood Crisis 
seventh of the sheep, and about one-third of the hogs owned in 
the United States. Therefore, in spite of the substantial increase 
shown in the number of swine in the past six years, we are barely 
holding our own in the matter of maintaining our animal indus- 
tries as compared with the rest of the country. It behooves us 
to realize this situation and take steps to avert the crisis which 
will shortly confront uS;! unless something radical towards en- 
couraging and developing our live stock industries is accom- 
plished very soon. 

The population of the United States in the last sixteen years 
has increased by more than 26,000,000, or 33 per cent. In the 
past six years, it is believed that the numbers have increased by 
more than 10,000,000. There has been no such proportionate 



130 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

increase in the number of our farm animals, yet meat and dairy 
products constitute 37 per cent, of the average diet, cereals 31 per 
cent., sweet and Irish potatoes 13 per cent., vegetables 8 per cent., 
and fish 2 per cent. The amount of beef, veal, mutton and pork 
available per capita has fallen from 248.2 pounds in 1899 to 219.6 
pounds in 1915. The production of butter and cheese per capita 
has fallen from 23.6 pounds in 1899 to 21.1 pounds in 1909. 
The production of fish, cereals and Irish potatoes has fallen off 
since 1899, while poultry, eggs, sweet potatoes and citrus fruits 
have shown an increase, which, of course, is very encouraging 
insofar as it goes. Under the stimulus of war abroad and extraor- 
dinary prices, the exports of meat products for 1916 will prob- 
Heauy Ex- ably be 2,000,000,000 pounds, together with 602,000,000 pounds of 
ports to Con- f^^g ^^^ q-j,, 'pj.jg imports of these two items amount to prac- 
^r tically nothing as compared with the exports. Hence, we face 

another danger of decreasing our meat supply through the de- 
mand abroad, which it is reasonable to suppose will continue 
until the end of the war and for some years thereafter. This is 
but an added reason why we should develop and promote our 
animal industries in every possible way. Feverish activity along 
this line', is what we need. At the same time, we should avoid a 
boom or speculation or irrational development because all of 
these things will re-act unfavorably on the industry in the long 
run. At the same time, it does not appear that the Southern 
|)eople as a whole realize the true inwardness of the existing 
situation or fully appreciate the opportunities whicli it offers to 
them. 

Among the things which need to be done to place our animal 

industries on a thoroughly constructive basis is the complete 

eradication of the cattle tick. Commendable progress is being 

made along this line. This work was begun in 1906, through the 

efforts of a small group of men associated with Southern agricul- 

Tick Eradica- ^"'"^^ colleges and experiment stations, and if laurel wreaths were 

tion First given to those deserving them, theirs would have been bestowed 

Essential long ago. At a time when everyone considered the eradication of 

the cattle tick a dream of the imagination, these men inaugurated 

the work on a scale which demonstrated its feasibility, and 

through persistent effort, won the sympathy and approval of 

Secretary Wilson, Congress and the Federal authorities to the 

support of this w^ork. The South will never be able to pay the 

debt of gratitude it owes to Dr. Tait Butler, Prof. H. A. Morgan, 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 131 

Prof. W. R. Dodson, Prof. B. W. Kilgore, Dr. Cooper Curtis and 
the other men who were associated with them in the inauguration 
of this wonderful enterprise. Already ticks have been eradicated 
from 294,014 square miles of territory since 1906. In other 
words, over forty per cent, of the originally infested territory has 
been cleaned and forever rid of this miserable parasite which 
caused losses estimated at $40,000,000 a year to the live stock 
owners of the South. In Georgia, for instance, fifty-five counties 
are now free of ticks and quarantine regulations are being en- 
forced in thirty-eight others. It is only a mafter of three to five 
years until practically every one of the infested states will have 
been cleaned up, and when that time is reached, the Southern 
stockmen ought to join in a grand jubilee of thanksgiving. 

Next to the eradication of the tick, efforts should be made 
looking to the checking and elimination of disease and parasites. 
For instance, much can be done towards reducing losses from 
hog cholera which amount now to millions of dollars annually. 
Tuberculosis can also be controlled and in large measure, stamped Disease and 
out. This disease causes a loss in the United States of $25,000,000 Parasites 
a year. According to the following table, the losses of live Cause Heavy 
stock in Georgia, mainly from disease and exposure, may be con- ^-^^^^^ 
servatively estimated at $5,247,520. The total number of animals 
lost in the year indicated was approximately 269,480 head. Of 
this number 258,4801 were meat-producing animals so that the 
losses resulted chiefly in cutting down the meat supply and in- 
creasing its cost to the consumer. 

Losses of Live Stock in Georgia for Year Ending April 1, 1916. 

Number. Average Value. Total Loss. 

Horses 11,000 $150.00 $1,650,000 

Cattle 41,800 25.00 1,045,000 

Sheep 5,560 3.00 16,680 

Swine 211,320 12.00 2,535.840 

Total. . 269,680 $5,247,520 

Applying these figures to the South, it will be seen that for 
the fifteen Southern states the losses amount to between 75 and More Veteri- 
100 million dollars annually. Surely, it would be worth while narians 
on the part of the different states to spend something for educa- ^^^dea 
tion, and thereby train a generation of veterinarians so that the 



132 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The Agricul- 
tural College 
as a Factor 



stockmen might have their services at a reasonable cost. The 
stockman himself should receive sufficient training to be able to 
diagnose many of the more important diseases and give the nec- 
essary treatment. This is particularly true in the case of swine, 
which the farmer can successfully inoculate against cholera. 
We have not realized the nature or extent of these losses as land 
owners, and certainly the consuming part of our population have 
not understood the situation or they would have demanded a 
measure of relief along the lines indicated and which can only be 
done through the medium of the more liberal endowment of our 
agricultural colleges and the training of experts to perform the 
necessary public service welfare work with animals. We also 
need to educate a generation of stockmen. The stock business is 
a comparatively new industry. It is much more complicated 
than that of cotton farming. When one comes to deal with living 
animals, subject in many respects to the same diseases and 
troubles which afflict the human race, skill in management, feed- 
ing and handling becomes absolutely essential. A live stock 
husbandman is not made over night. The successful feeders and 
breeders of England and Scotland have followed the industry 
from generation to generation. The owners of breeding animals 
in those countries are highly educated and scholarly men, and 
they have the most reliable and capable herdsmen with wide ex- 
perience in the handling of animals in charge of their herds and 
flocks. We must, therefore, encourage our boys to go to agricul- 
tural colleges and obtain the fundamental and technical training 
necessary, and then arrange for them to obtain such additional 
practical information as may be necessary on selected stock 
farms. When this is done we will have started the industry on 
the high road to success, because it will have been established on 
a correct scientific basis, which is the only lasting foundation on 
which to build any superstructure. 

That we need education along this line more than in other 
sections of the country is evidenced by the fact that 25 head of 
cattle out of every 1000 die from disease and 25 from exposure ; 
31 sheep out of every 1000 die from disease and 31 from exposure; 
71 head of swine out of every 1000 die from disease. These fig- 
ures apply to the Sunny South, with an equable climate, long 
growing season and the other favorable conditions which per- 
tain here. On the other hand, in the North Atlantic states, 
where seasonal and climatic conditions are as unfavorable as 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



133 



they could be in any section of the United States, only 19.9 
cattle in 1000 die from disease and 3.6 from exposure ; of sheep 
25.2 die from disease and 9.2 from exposure; of swine 27.5 die 
from disease. 

That we can make rapid and substantial progress if we ap- 
ply ourselves to the task properly is shown by what has been Georgia an 
accomplished in Georgia in the last few years. According to the ^^^^^^^^^ 
census figures of 1910 we possessed animals of the several classes 
to the number and value indicated below : 

Number. Value. 

Horses 120,067 $14,193,839 

Mules 295,348 43,974,611 

Beef and Dairy Cattle 1,080,316 14,060,958 

Sheep 187,644 308,212 

Swine 1,783,684 5,429,016 

Total 3,467,059 $77,966,636 

According to the Bureau of Crop Estimates the figures for 

1916 are as follows : 

Number. Value. 

Horses 127,000 $ 16,383,000 

Mules 324,000 52,812,000 

Beef and Dairy Cattle 1,104,000 26,579,000 

Sheep 150,000 420,000 

Swine 2,585,000 23,265,000 

Total 4,290,000 $119,459,000 

The increase in numbers for the period mentioned amounts 
to 822.941 and the increase in value to $41,492,364. Part of this 
increase in value is attributable to the better grade of live stock 
and the higher market values pertaining, but a very considerable 
amount of it is due to the greater number of animals now owned. 
For instance, horses and mules show an increase, beef and dairy 
cattle a sHght increase, sheep a falling off, but swine an increase 
of 801.316. or well on towards the million mark. This is a very 
notable increase to have occurred in a period of six years. More- 
over, where these animals had an average value of $3.04 in 1910, 
they now have an average value of $9.00, showing that the qual- 
ity has been greatly advanced. In other words, the increase in 



134 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Boys' Live 
Stock Clubs 
and County 
Agents 
Praised 



Grass a 
Friend and 
Asset to the 
Farmer 



value of swine in Georgia in six years amounts in round numbers 
to about $18,000,000. 

This gives some idea of the forcefulness of an educational 
campaign organized and conducted along certain lines. While 
all of the increase is not attributable to any one agency, the boys' 
live stock clubs have exerted a marvelous influence by creating 
a renewed interest in swine husbandry in inducing the fathers to 
purchase pure-bred animals for them, and thereby raising the 
quality of the stock kept on many farms. Naturally, the various 
organizations concerned have endeavored in every way to en- 
courage the use of preventive serum, with the result that large 
numbers of outbreaks of this disease have been checked at the 
start, and hundreds of farmers taught how to use the serum 
properly. The county agents are undoubtedly to be credited with 
having accomplished a work along this; line worth millions of 
dollars to the swine owners of the state. They were the men on 
the ground when the outbreaks occurred and their prompt action 
and public service work in this direction cannot be too highly 
commended. I have no doubt but that they have done an equally 
important work in every other Southern state. 

Among the things which must be done is to teach the South- 
ern farmer to quit fighting grass. Grass should be his most val- 
uable friend and most highly prized asset. The cotton farmer 
has been taught to fight grass from infancy ; therefore, it seems 
that he is unwilling to have any of it on any part of his land 
whether he devotes it to cotton or not. One can not grow and 
maintain live stock successfully without grass. It is needless to 
enter into detail as to the great variety of grasses and clovers 
which may be provided for summer and winter grazing and 
which would shortly clothe our hills and prevent their erosion if 
given opportunity to do so. They would also add materially to 
the carrying capacity of the land, shorten the length of time we 
would have to stall feed our animals, enable us to improve the 
quality of our live stock, and give us the necessary succulent food 
for the cheap maintenance of live stock in the summer which 
silage affords in the winter. 

Speaking of the educational campaign, it is proper to state 
that hundreds of silos have been built in Georgia in the last few 
years as a result of the work done by the animal husbandry di- 
vision and the extension force of the State College of Agriculture. 
Plans have been furnished to thousands of farmers and thev have 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 135 

been aided in erecting tlje necessary structures. They have also 

been advised as to the crops to grow and as to the methods of 

feeding to follow, with the result that the silo is now regarded by 

many as an indispensable factor in the maintenance of beef and Helping the 

dairy cattle on an economical and practical basis. Only a begin- ?!"^^^ 

ning has been made in this direction, however, for the time must 

shortly come when there will be thousands upon thousands of 

silos in every Southern state if we are to develop our live stock 

business to the degree which is necessary and essential. 

Only a word can be said in this connection relative to the 
feeding of live stock, but it is along this line that more failures 
are recorded than in any other direction. Self-criticism is not 
pleasant, but if we realize that for the most part we are "babes in 
the woods" when it comes to the question of feeding, we will 
make progress all the more rapidly. The problem of animal 
nutrition is a complicated one from every point of view. One 
must understand the composition of foodstuffs, and the anatomy, 
physiology and requirements of the animal body for maintenance, 
for growth and for work. One must understand how to combine 
foods in order to promote digestion and circulation ; in other 
words, how to lubricate the machine most cheaply and success- 
lully. The animal in the stall corresponds to the knitting ma- The Science 
chine in the mill. It may or may not do effective work. It all ^' P^pP^^ 
depends on the manner in which it is set up and manipulated. It 
must be adjusted and oiled and lubricated. The animal must be 
fed and watered and cared for properly if expected to produce a 
profitable return. As to the amount of foodstuffs available, our 
supply may be limited in some respects, but we can produce silage 
ad libitum, and this can be fed with success for six months of the 
year. Summer pastures can be provided by the farmer who has 
the ambition to do so. Grain crops of a great variety may be 
had to use as concentrates. We can increase our yields of corn, 
oats, peanuts, soy beans, velvet beans and cotton seed meal. No 
section of the country may be better supplied with the variety 
of foodstuffs essential to the proper nourishment of all classes of 
live stock than the South. It is a question of choosing from the 
rich field of possible supply and combining nature's gifts in the 
proper manner. 

That the feed problem is a determining factor in economic 
production is shown by the following example : A dairy cow fed 
on a ration of 36 pounds of silage and 6 pounds of cotton seed 



136 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Rations That 

Double 

Profits 



High - Grade 
Cows Pay 
Best in the 
End 



meal produced a profit of $51.75 from butter when sold at 30 
cents a pound. When fed on a ration of 36 pounds of silage, 7 
pounds of hay and 5 pounds of mixed grain, the profit at the same 
sale price was $37.15. When fed on a ration of 12 pounds of 
silage, 10 pounds of hay and 10 pounds of mixed grain, the profit 
fell to $24.43. In other words, one ration was more than twice 
as profitable as another. This example will apply with equal 
force to the economic maintenance of horses and mules, beef and 
dairy cattle, sheep and swine. The feeding of live stock may be 
a gamble at present, and, if so, the cards stack themselves against 
the owner every time. Intelligence and skill and the essential 
knowledge on which correct nutrition is predicated must be pos- 
sessed by the successful stockman. I emphasize, therefore, the 
necessity of encouraging hundreds of boys in the South to take 
the necessary courses of instruction in our agricultural colleges 
that they may become acquainted with the science and art of an- 
imal nutrition and become experts in the handling of live stock. 
Umtil this is done our progress will be of the more or less blun- 
dering variety and our losses will be so frequent as to discourage 
rather than promote what in the very nature of the situation 
should always be one of our most important and constructive in- 
dustries. 

The stockman must give consideration to quality in his ani- 
mals. If he is not willing to do this he cannot hope to succeed. 
The South is very backward in this direction. We are securing a 
very small return, for instance, from the dairy cows we maintain. 
In fact, a large per cent of them are unprofitable. It ma)^ not 
seem credible to every person, but it is true nevertheless that a 
cow giving 300 pounds of butter fat in a lactation period made 
the same profit as forty-one cows each yielding 131 pounds of 
butter in a lactation period. The reason for this lies in the fact 
that it costs so much to maintain an animal. The food consumed 
in maintenance is not used for productive purposes. A cow of 
limited assimilative capacity can only utilize so much food. We 
may feed her more than a given amount but she wastes the bal- 
ance. She is not an economical manufacturer of milk and butter. 
We must get rid, therefore, of the thief in the dairy herd, and we 
should remember that there are thousands of them. The same is 
true of our beef cattle and our sheep and swine. We must get rid 
of the scrub stock, the slow developer, and the animal which can 
not eat an unusually large amount of food and assimilate and 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



137 



digest it to advantage and manufacture therefrom some food sub- 
stance of value to the owner and to the human race. We must scrub Stock 
come to understand that animals are just as individualistic as hu- Must Go 
man beings and we must get rid of the low-grade stock we pos- 
sess if we are to be successful and prosperous as live stock farmers. 
The importance of this matter is illustrated in the following 
table, which shows the average value of different classes of farm 
anim'als in Georgia, in the United States, and in the states where 
the particular class of animals have attained the highest value. 
Georgia figures have been used because of the readiness with 
which they may be appHed to the conditions prevailing in the 
other Southern states concerned : 

Average Value of Live Stock. 





Georgia. 


United States. 


Values in Other 


States. 


Horses. . . . . 


..$127.00 


$102.94 


Maine 


$152.00 


Mules 


.. 163.00 


118.32 


New Jersey 


169.00 








Rhode Island 


77.00 


Dairy Cows . 


. . . 37.00 


59.66 


Nebraska 

Wisconsin 

Illinois 


68.00 
65.00 
43.30 Average 


Beef Cattle . . 


. . . 16.20 


35.88 


Nebraska 

Montana 

Iowa 

Nevada 

Idaho 


44.30 yatue of Live 
5310 ^^°^^ 
8.80 


Sheep 


. . . 2.80 


7.14 


8.20 
8.20 








Connecticut 


17.50 








New Jersey 


17.00 


Swine 


.... 9.00 


11.73 \ 


Maine 

Iowa 

Nebraska 


16.60 
15.50 
14.00 



Dairy cows in Georgia are worth on an average $37.00 apiece ; 
in Rhode Island $77.00; and in the United States $59.66. In 
Nebraska they are worth $68.00, and in Wisconsin $65.00. Wis- Pure -Bred 
consin is one of the greatest dairy states, and one can understand ^'^ll^^Zl 
why their cows are so much better producers than ours as shown ^^^^^ 
by their average value. Wisconsin farmers do not come to Georgia 
or the South to buy high-producing dairy animals, but we go to 
them for this purpose. There is no reason why, by the use of pure- 
bred sires, the elimination of unprofitable animals, and the proper 
feeding and maintenance of our cows, we should not make 



138 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Natural Ad- 
vantages of 
the South 



them worth $65.00. It should be possible to add several million 
dollars to the value of our dairy herds every year by the process 
indicated. In a state like Georgia, for instance, we should be able 
in large measure to replace the losses which the weevil might in- 
flict on us through the improvement of our dairy cattle. It would 
not break us to do it. We have the money and the brains and the 
intelligence. All we need to do is to study this proposition as 
seriously as we have studied cotton production. Then, educate our 
boys, use pure-bred sires and utilize the natural facilities which 
we possess to attain the end in view. 

Take the case of beef cattle. They are worth $16.20 apiece in 
Georgia, and in the United States $35.88. In other words, our 
beef cattle are of a low grade. They dress out about 40 per cent 
of the live weight. It takes them about a year or sO' longer to 
mature than it should. They do not finish out advantageously. 
When shipped to consuming centers they class as little better than 
scrubs for the most part. In Montana the average beef animal is 
worth $53.10, in Nebraska $44.30, and in Illinois $43.30. Montana 
beef cattle are worth more than three times as much as Georgia 
beef cattle. This has been brought about through the use of the 
pure-bred sire, the elimination of the scrub, and a state-wide cam- 
paign of education. 

The facts presented above apply with equal force to sheep and 
swine. As a result of the boys' pig club work and other educa- 
tional forces which have been brought into play, swine in Georgia 
are now credited with an average value of $9.00 as compared with 
$11.73 for the United States. In Connecticut they are worth 
$17.50, or almost twice as much as in Georgia; in New Jersey 
$17.00, and in Maine $16.60. In this connection it is important to 
remember that the highest priced animals in the United States in 
many instances are in states which can not produce half as many 
food crops as Georgia, which do not raise anything like the same 
quantity or variety of concentrates, and where the climatic condi- 
tions are most unfavorable. The people in those states are only 
able to compete with the South in the production of live stock be- 
cause of the special study they have made of this business ; because 
of the greater skill and care with which they feed and handle their 
animals ; and because of the high premium they have placed on 
quality which has been attained through the use of pure-bred sires. 
These lessons should sink deep into our hearts, because they con- 
stitute the keystone over the arch of success as it applies to ani- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



139 



mal production. The foregoing figures illustrate a point which I 
desire to again re-emphasize in that we can recoup ourselves for 
losses due to the boll weevil invasion by improving the quality 
of our live stock and by directing attention to the development 
of animal industries. There is no reason, for instance, why we 
should not increase the number of hogs to three million in the 
course of a couple of years, thereby adding from this source 
alone several million dollars annually to the revenue of our 
farms. In the course of four or five years we could increase the 
value of our beef and dairy cattle by ai similar amount, thus giv- 
ing us in a short time an offset of twenty to twenty-five million 
dollars to replace any losses incident! to weevil damage. 

The latent possibilities of live stock industries are nicely 
illustrated by what has been , accomplished on the College farm 
at Athens in the past few years. This farm was little better 
than an abandoned plantation when taken over in 1907. The 
figures presented. below show the value of the live stock at that 
time and at subsequent periods up to June 1, 1916: 

Value of live stock on College farm Sept. 1, 

1907 $ 1,917.00 

Expenditures for live stock from Sept. 1, 

1907, to June 1, 1916 9,683.60 

Value of live stock June 1, 1916 $17,310.00 

Sales of live stock Sept. 1, 1907, to June 1, 

1916 13,377.95 

Net increased value plus sales above ex- 
penditures for purchase of live stock. . 19,087.35 



$30,687.95 $30,687.95 

Average amount expended yearly for live stock $ 1,075.95 

Average annual sales of live stock 1,491.98 

Average net yearly increase in inventoried value of live 

stock 1,710.33 

As is shown, the farm started with $1,917 worth of live 
stock. There has been expended for the purchase of live stock 
during the past nine years $9,683.60. The sales of live stock for 
nine years amount to $13,377.95, while the value of the live stock 
as inventoried on Junel, 1916, was $17,310.00. The net increased 
value plus sales above expenditures for the purchase of live 
stock, therefore, totaled $19,087.35. An accurate record of the 



What Has 
Been Done on 
an "Aban- 
doned" Farm 



140 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Percheron 
Mares Suc- 
cessfully 
Grown in the 
South 



Two - Year - 
Old Hereford 
Steer Sells for 
$123.50 to the 
Butcher 



number of animals purchased and handled and the manner in 
which they have been disposed of has been kept on the College 
farm since the work was first started. This will give some idea 
of what can be done on a farm organized along the lines indi- 
cated. What has been done here can be done by hundreds of 
other farmers who will make the business of live stock breeding 
a specialty and study the various problems involved therein in 
an intelligent manner. It is worth while noting that while 
$1,075.95 was spent for the purchase of live stock each year, the 
annual sales amounted to v$l,491.98, and the average net yearly 
increase in the inventoried value of the live stock to $1,710.33. 
This is a line of activity which the young men of the South 
should engage in, and everyone who has the welfare of this sec- 
tion of the country at heart or who is concerned about reducing 
the cost of living or supplying our markets with an abundance 
of choice meat and dairy products will lend his encouragement 
to the promotion of this industry. 

It has been thought by many that Percheron mares could 
not be maintained successfully in the South. On January 1. 
1911, a team of grade mares was purchased by the College of 
Agriculture for $470.00. They have done the same amount of 
work as any team of mules would have performed in the past 
six years. Colts to the value of $1,137.50 have been sold from 
them already and there is a filly on hand worth $100.00, making 
the gross return from these two animals $1,237.50, or more than 
two and a half times their original purchase price. In the mean- 
time they have earned their board and keep. The man who can- 
not keep Percheron mares on his farm should not attribute it to 
climatic or soil conditions, but to carelessness in the matter of 
feeding and general management. 

That our beef industries can be rapidly and profitably built 
up is illustrated by the fact that a long 2-year-old grade Here- 
ford steer weighing 1,450 pounds was recently sold to an Athens 
butcher at 8.5 cents a pound net, or for $123.50 cash. This steer 
was two crosses removed from a native cow that cost $17.00. It 
took a little over six years to produce him. When slaughtered 
he dressed out 64 per cent of valuable meat. He cost the butcher 
11 cents a pound dressed. The same butcher purchased a car- 
load of steers at 5.5 cents. They cost him hung up on the hooks 
10.75 cents a pound, but the high-grade Hereford steer sold for 
5 cents a pound more all around, and hence he was a far more 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 141 

profitable animal to handle. The butcher who purchased him 
with misgivings has since visited the College and wants to know 
when we will have some more like him. He has been educated 
and has learned that quality is a matter of surpassing moment in 
animals. Persons who ate the meat are anxious for some more of 
the same character. There are 100,000 farms in the South where 
the same class of animal can be produced under the same con- 
ditions in a period of six years, starting with a pure-bred sire on 
native stock. It may be interesting- to know that Hereford steers 
sold as long yearlings by the College attained an average weight 
of 1,010 pounds and sold at $80.50 a head cash on the farm. 

There never was a country offering greater opportunities to 
live stock men, but in this connection it should be remembered 
that it takes a keen, analytical, constructive business man to „ • 

tjllSlTlCSS 

run a live stock farm just as well as it does to run a law office, a Methods 
hardware business or a manufacturing enterprise. If this fact Needed in 
can be borne into the consciousness of our people the founda- Live Stock 
tion will have been laid on which to build up animal industries ^ctr/nz/jg' 
of proportions calculated to serve the present and future eco- 
nomic needs of the South, and to a reasonable degree, the nation 
as a whole. 



142 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

The Animal Industry of the 

South — Past, Present and 

Future 

By Dr. W. H. Dalrymple 

Professor of Veterinary Science, Louisiana State 
University and A. & M. College 

The subject assigned to me, or rather to that distinguished 
scientist, Dr. Jno. R. Mohler, Assistant Chief of the Federal 
Bureau of Animal Industry, whose place I am presumed to fill 
on the programme, is a very large one, and one that it would 
be impossible to adequately cover in the limited space of time 
allotted to its discussion. 

As regards the past of animal industry in the South, I do 
not believe it would aid us much at this time to dwell to any 
extent on the conditions that are behind us, unless it should be 
to utilize our remembrance of them, along with what we know 
of the present, to help us build more solidly for the future. 

There is one thought, however, which appeals to me very 
StoD "Plavina strongly, viz., that if we expect to make the most out of our 
With Agriciil- great agricultural and live stock possibilities in the future we 
tiire" will have to consider and treat them in a niiuch more serious 

manner than has been the case in the past, or as some seem to 

view them even at the present time. 

Or, to quote a recent remark made by a prominent British 
agriculturist, as he views matters at the present time in that 
country, and which, in some degree at least, may apply to us, 
viz., "We can play with politics, with industry, with law, and 
even with the consuming fires of civilized (?) warfare, but if we 
value the future of our country, and of our race, we cannot any 
longer afford to play with agriculture." 

The great cattle ranges of the West are rapidly being placed 
under cultivation to meet the demands of an ever-increasing pop- 
ulation, both natural and through immigration, and which may 
be largely added to after the world is again at peace, who have 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 143 

to be provided with occupations, and whose stomachs have to be 
filled. In fact, one of the greatest economic problems confront- 
ing us at the present moment is, how to increase the producing 
capacity of our soils, and extend our cultivable areas to the ut- 
most, even to our home gardens and backyards, not only to keep 
pace with our present-day requirements under normal conditions, Vi/orld De- 
hut to meet a most abnormal state occasioned by our participa- "'"""-^ More 
tion in a world's conflict. The call for the highest standard of 
efficiency in the production and conservation of food does not 
come only to the American farmer, but the cry today comes 
from everywhere, for the mobilization of the world's agricultural 
resources, so that the people of different continents may not 
suffer for lack of the necessities of life. 

For some time, however, we have been brought face to face 
with the problem of the high cost of living, even before the pres- 
ent international crisis became so acute, and we have heard of 
many attempts, theoretical and otherwise, to reach an intelligent 
solution. Might we not, with appropriateness, ask ourselves the 
question : If agricultural conditions in the South had, all of 
these years, been in keeping with her possibilities, in the pro- 
duction of the daily necessities of our people, in the matter of 
food supplies, both animal and vegetable, would conditions, as 
we find them today, have been likely, even with the world in a 
state of war? I am inclined to think not! 

I believe, however, that the South will, before many decades 
have passed, be the great stock-raising section of the country, 
more particularly the meat-producing animals, and will, after we 
stop "playing with agriculture," be able to furnish both food for 
our people and enough, and to spare, of the feed crops necessary The South as 
to develop and maintain a largely increased animal population. ,, ^_ * 

In short, it is our belief that, ultimately, the South will have to 
come to the rescue in preventing the risk of any serious break 
in the equilibrium of our food supply, should that ever occur ; 
and I also believe that she will be fully equal to the occasion. 

Up to the present, however, and in a general way, our 
Southern country has not even approached the point of maximum 
production, either in food crops, or in the number or quality of 
our live stock, to be able to successfully compete with other 
more advanced sections in the great metropolitan markets. And 
even if she had, especially in her cattle production, there are 



Hope 



144 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The Tick a 

Disappearing 

Menace 



Now is Time 
for South to 
Act 



considerable areas from which her animals would be excluded 
from such markets because of Federal restrictions imposed on 
account of the presence of that most expensive pest, the cattle tick. 

It is gratifying to know, however, that total extermination 
of this parasite is a question of only a few more years of co- 
operative effort ; and its accomplishment lies at the very foun- 
dation of our general agricultural prosperity in the future. 

True, the cattle tick has militated very seriously against our 
progress in the production of improved cattle ; but our chief ob- 
struction, which I believe is now generally conceded, has been 
our almost universal system of single-cropping. 

Doubtless, and on account of the world-wide need for cot- 
ton, this system has, temporarily if you will, brought large re- 
turns to our people. 

But, under such a system, in which every other necessity of 
the farm and home has had to be purchased and paid for out of 
those returns, has the fertility of our soils been increased ; has 
it increased their power to produce, or otherwise enhanced their 
value? I think not ! 

On the other hand, had our general farming system been 
more along the lines of diversification and crop rotation, includ- 
ing cotton, necessarily, and, of course, live stock, and with in- 
telligent fertilization, with increased yields of both cash crops 
and those for consumption by our farm animals, and with a suf- 
ficiency of the latter crops to bring to prime market condition 
the meat-producing animals, such as cattle, sheep and hogs, and 
through them to market the farm feeds and forages at enhanced 
values, conditions might have assumed a very different aspect. 
In short, had such conditions prevailed, these many years, and 
with the South on equal footing with other sections of the coun- 
try, with reference to our great markets, is it reasonable to pre- 
sume, even under present abnormal conditions, that the cry 
about high-priced necessities would have had to be so vigorously 
proclaimed all over the land? 

But up to the present time it may be said that the South has 
scarcely been reckoned as among the purveyors of the nation's 
food supply. 

This condition, however, has got to change ; in fact, is doing 
so gradually, if not as rapidly as perhaps one could wish. At 
the same time, it is our humble, but candid, opinion that by 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 145 

taking full and immediate advantage of present opportunities, 
and with the further possibilities incident to the utilization of 
our extensive areas of unused and uncultivated land, the South, 
in a reasonably short period of time, should not only be able to 
clothe our people with her cotton and wool products, but should 
have a large share in the feeding of them with the cereals and 
their by-products, and with toothsome meat from her well-bred, 
well-fed, and high-grade cattle, hogs and sheep. 

We occasionally hear the remark that the South is a splen- 
did "poor man's country," on account of the ease with which a 
living may be made. 

Such a statement might be construed into a reflection upon 
our past, or, in some cases, our present, farming methods. And 
yet it is a most eloquent indorsement of the fertility of our soils 
that they have been able to even support such methods. But 
what would be the result did our lands receive the treatment 
which would be bestowed upon them by a more intellis:ent sys- 
tem of husbandry; where the farmer made a more thorough fj\^-, ^ 
study of his profession or calling; made a business of farming Possibilities. 
rather than a means to eke out a mere existence ; who built up 
his soils; aimed at maximum production; varied his products, 
both in field crops and in live stock ; kept up with the markets ; 
rotated his crops, and strived to produce nothing but the very 
best his land would yield, and that the market demanded? To 
try to even picture to ourselves the prosperity of our Southern 
country under such conditions would be practically impossible. 

■And, yet, it is just such conditions that we must aim to real- 
ize, if we may hope to obtain to the full the results which our 
opportunities and possibilities have placed within our reach. 

Live stock is an absolute necessity on every well-regulated 
farm, not merely out of sentiment, as some still seem to think, 
but as a necessary adjunct to the business, that can be employed ^. >, .. 

as local factories, if you will, through which the cheaper raw f^j. j^ij^^ Stock 
materials grown may be converted into high-priced finished 
products, in the form of high-class beef, mutton, pork, etc., which 
can be marketed "on the hoof." 

In fact, one could scarcely imagine a more inharmonious en- 
terprise, or a more discordant undertaking, than an otherwise 
modern farm holding without its due quota of improved live 
stock of different varieties. 



146 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Forage Crops 
Abundant 



Many Useful 
By-Products 



And yet, even today, it is not an uncommon sight to see 
nondescript animals occupying valuable space, on many of our 
farming properties, that are forced to eke out a precarious ex- 
istence, as best they can, or die in the effort. 

We all must admit, however, that the climate of the South 
is ideal for live stock husbandry, in all of its departments, from 
the growing of the food crops to the finishing of the product for 
market. 

Forage crops, in great variety, grow with a luxuriance that 
would "tickle the palate" and "whet the appetite" of the most 
fastidious and epicurean of our herbivorous animals. 

Among the legumes, it is only necessary to mention alfalfa, 
which may be used for grazing, for soiling, or for hay. Les- 
pedeza, our great Southern clover, which makes a most valuable 
hay, and enhances the value of our pasture when mixed with our 
native grasses. The cow pea, the soy bean, the velvet bean, the 
clovers and some of the vetches, etc., all furnish abundant and 
nutritious food for live stock. 

In short, the South has, or can have, a superabundance, both 
as to quantity and variety, of these most valuable nitrogen- 
gathering, soil-improving, and protein-producing forages, so im- 
portant for the upbuilding and maintenance of soil fertility, as 
well as the nutrition of animal life on the farm. 

In some sections of the South pasturage may be secured 
practically the year round by sowing almost any of the small 
cereals as catch crops, after the staple crops have been harvested, 
which yield abundantly during the fall and winter months; and 
furnish succulent food at a season of the year when such is in 
greatest need. 

Silage crops, also, in addition to corn, such as sorghum, etc., 
and root crops of different varieties, produce with great abun- 
dance, and may be used to supply excellent succulent feed for 
cattle, hogs and sheep, after ordinary pasturage has been de- 
pleted by the summer's grazing. 

But while that which we have enumerated might appear as 
more than sufficient to meet all practical needs in the matter of 
live stock feed production, it is by no means all. In addition, 
there are the important by-products from our cotton fields ; and 
in some parts of the South, those from our rice industry, and 
from our sugar cane fields and factories. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



147 



With such possibilities, then, in our feed production, our 
abundance in cereal crops, our many nutritious hays, and other 
roughage supplies, our winter pasture crops and natural grazing, 
although much of the latter is yet to be availed of, and in the 
rich concentrates in the by-products of our cotton, rice and sugar, 
if the future of stock raising in the South should not appear 
bright, even to the most casual observer, one is inclined to won- 
der where else he would go to satisfy his desires in that branch 
of husbandry. 

That all varieties of farm animals do well in the South, it is 
only necessary to state that all of the principal breeds, and kinds, 
are already represented, including horses and mules, beef and 
dairy cattle, hogs and sheep. And not only so, but each has its 
organizations, in the different states, specially devoted to im- 
provement and greater development of the breeds. 

In addition to the increasing interest being displayed in our 
live stock production, most, if not all, of the Southern states 
have taken steps to protect, from the ravages of fatal animal Legislation 
,. ,•• ,-1. rr^.i ^ ^t- Fosters Live 

diseases, this important industry. 1 refer to the enactment, by o, ^ Raising 

the different states, of suitable live stock sanitary legislation, 
and the creation or appointment of boards or commissions to see 
that it is carried into effect. 

Such legislation not only affords protection to the live stock 
interests of a state, but it gives encouragement to prospective 
immigrants who expect to make the production of live stock a 
feature of their farm practice. 

There is one very important project, vitally connected with Providing 
the live stock business, which should not be overlooked in these Markets for 
remarks. ^-"'<' ^^"^^ 

Hitherto, one of the chief drawbacks to the live stock in- 
dustry, especially in the more southerly states, has been the 
inaccessibility of the best markets, which has militated consider- 
ably against the more profitable disposal of stock, and, neces- 
sarily, has discouraged many producers. 

This unfortunate state of affairs will very shortly be cor- 
rected, however, by the erection and establishment of a large 
packing plant in the city of New Orleans, which will be oper- 
ated by the enterprising firm of Morris & Company. 

Such a plant will not only care for a large amount of our 
surplus stock, but will afford an immense stimulus to greater 



148 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

and better production on the part of our people; and we trust 
will prove entirely profitable to those responsible for the estab- 
lishment of the new and important enterprise. 

I believe all of us must be convinced of the South's unex- 
Every Facil- celled possibilities in live stock production, of which many of 
ity vai a e ^^^ people have already taken advantage, with profit to them- 
selves. 

We already have an abundance of food materials for animals 
that would surprise even a Northern or Western stockman, and 
these are capable of large increase. 

We have broad acres of unoccupied fertile lands which 
simply await the touch of the intelligent husbandman in order 
to spring into full fruition, and add more wealth and prosperity 
to our Southern country. 

We have representatives of almost every breed and variety 
of live stock, and an increasing interest constantly being mani- 
fested in their greater development. 

We have adequate legislation, in practically all of the South- 
ern states, to afford protection against the fatal diseases to which 
farm animals are susceptible, and which gives encouragement to 
those engaged in the industry. 

We have our State Boards of Agriculture to look after and 
foster the industry from the standpoint of the state. 

We have our State Colleges of Agriculture and our Experi- 
ment Stations, and our various branches of Agricultural Exten- 
sion Service, all bending their efforts to educate and inform our 
citizens, and encourage and increase interest in this great work. 

In short, we not only have the materials to work with, but, 
in addition, various and important agencies laboring, in an edu- 
cational way, for the good of the cause; and which are being 
more and more taken advantage of by our people, and through 
which advancement is being made. 

And we now have one of the most valuable aids to the stock 

Cheap Money grower in the development of his industry, viz., the privilege of 

a Help the use of money, which he may obtain on reasonable terms, 

through the medium of the recently established Federal Farm 

Loan Banks. 

One would naturally imagine, therefore, that all of the needs 
of the South had already been amply provided, and that nothing 
more was necessary but to go ahead and prosper ; and in a meas- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 149 

ure that is quite true. However, while possession of the raw 
material is of the first importance, we cannot expect to make 
the most out of it unless we intelligently employ the appropriate 
tools or machinery through which to bring it to a state of per- 
fection in the finished product. And so it is with our possibili- 
ties ; they are not going to benefit us as they should unless we 
use every effort, and take advantage of every opportunity, to 
develop them to their highest state of perfection. 

In emphasizing one or two of our most important needs, as 
I see them, I will say, in the first place, that we must double our 
efforts to wipe the cattle tick from off the map of the Southern 
states. This is a fundamental necessity in connection with the 
future success of our cattle industry at least, and that is perhaps 
the most important. 

In the second place, we need more and better live stock 
through which to market our food crops, and help increase and 
maintain the fertility of our lands ; and we need our own people 
to devote more time and study to the rational and business sides 
of animal husbandry and general farming. 

In the third place, we need an open market, anywhere and 
everywhere, and at all times, especially for our cattle, which will 
depend solely, however, upon the total extermination of the cattle 
tick from the Southern states, and upon which, likewise, depends 
the improvement of our cattle, through the influence of improved 
animals, particularly males, that can then be imported from the 
best herds of the country ; and 

In the fourth place, we need more immigration of the de- 
sirable, intelligent and industrious farmer-stockman class, whose 
life and business experience have hitherto been devoted to the 
branches of stock raising and general agriculture, which we be- 
lieve the South stands in greatest need of, at the present time, 
for her general agricultural upbuilding. 

Good object lessons are, in great measure, what we require ; Present 
and this is, I believe, the kind of help we need, and want, to Encouraging 
assist us develop our great natural resources, and, as we all be- „ • u* 
lieve, our unparalleled possibilities. 

In summing up, therefore, I believe we can pass over the 
past of the live stock industry of the South; but we can say that 
the present is encouraging, and that the future seems bright. 



150 The Dawn of a N ew Constructive Era 

At this momentous period of the country's history, in fact, in 
the history of the world, I would like to close with a brief statement. 

Owing to the unfortunate international conditions existing, the 
cry of the world today is for food, and yet more food; and just how 
long this cry may last, from both combatant and neutral peoples, 
it is impossible at this time to form anything like an accurate 
conception. 

The man on whom the world has always had to depend for its 
food supply, and the only one who is now able to satisfy the present, 
and perhaps future, demand for the necessities of life in the matter 
of food, is the Farmer. The farmer, therefore, who puts forth his 
utmost effort to make the proverbial two blades of grass grow where" 
only one grew before, is just as much a patriot, and defender of 
his country, as the private in the trenches, or the "Jackie" on the 
quarter-deck. 

Consequently, and as an imperative national duty, it should 
behoove every owner and occupier of land to utilize, toi the very 
utmost, every available inch, so to speak, in the production of more 
and more food, both for man and beast, in order that not only our 
own people, but the world at large, may not continue to suffer in 
consequence of any shortage ; and in order that our producers may 
be stimulated to maximum efforts in this direction, and that they 
may not be forgetful of their responsibilities, they should keep 
continually reminding themselves, by having emblazoned on their 
banner that now famous patriotic slogan, "Your Country Needs 
You !" 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 151 

The Railroads' Interest in 
Cut-Over Land De- 
velopment 

By D. C. Welty 

Commissioner of Agriculture, St. Louis, Iron 
Mountain and Southern Railway 

Mr. Chairman: — I sincerely regret that the urgency of food 
production preparedness work and the rapidly progressing planting 
season prevent my remaining over another day and, as you have 
stated that I would be called upon during tomorrow's session, I 
ask the privilege of a word in behalf of one of the railroads which 
probably has as much cut-over land along its right-of-way as any ■ 
one road in the South ; and as secretary-treasurer of the Railway 
Development Association, which numbers among its members the 
development men of 90 per cent of the railroad mileage of the 
United States, I want to say in their behalf that we hope tomorrow's 
meeting will not close without some definite action on the part of 
the cut-over land owners and for the purpose of putting their vast 
holding to some productive use. 

We have listened to many able addresses upon Southern agri- 
cultural possibilities and the agricultural problems of the cut-over 
land areas, but, gentlemen, if I understand the situation correctly, 
you are here to consider ways and means of marshaling the forces , jy^finn^ 
of the cut-over land owners, so that these owners can, in co-opera- Organization 
tion with the Department of Agriculture and other development Urged 
agencies, put this knowledge into practice, get people happily located 
on the land and develop the country. I also believe that reforesta- 
tion of the poorer lands justifies energetic consideration. 

Every speaker has mentioned that he is an optimist as to 
Southern agricultural possibilities, both as to live stock and food 
production. It is true that there is no great accumulation of ex- 
perience or data to eliminate every doubt, but it is quite evident 
that there are great possibilities. These possibilities have been 
ably covered by Mr. Piper, Mr. Rommell, Mr. Tracy, Dr. Dodson 



152 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Railroads 
Anxious to 
Assist 



Settler Must 
Be Liberally 
Financed 



and others who have addressed us, and these gentlemen and their 
associates and assistants are available to put most efficient and 
profitable agricultural practices in effect. The agricultural depart- 
ments already know and are practicing the things which will make 
for success, and this knowledge simply must be put in practice and 
much agricultural demonstration work done. The great problem 
lies with you men who own this land — most potent of possibilities 
but at present inactive, unused, covered with stumps and rapidly 
being covered with underbrush. 

It is a question of financing and farsighted business adminis- 
tration and agricultural demonstration in which each with the help 
of existing agencies will have to solve his individual problems, 
and in which, collectively and as an association, you can most eco- 
nomically do much of mutual benefit, and for each other as in- 
dividuals. 

The railroads have for years seen the timber cut and shipped 
away leaving idle land^ and just as the lumberman faces the end of 
his cutting and cessation of profitable activity unless his land is util- 
ized, just so do many railroads face unprofitable operation unless 
these lands are exploited and reforested and developed by settle- 
ment by good and successful farmers. The development men of 
the railroads realize the importance of the situation and have given 
the subject much thought, as is evident by the fact that practically 
every railroad is well represented at this meeting. I see at least 
twelve railroad development men here who are vitally interested, 
and all ready to do their part when conditions justify energetic 
co-operation. 

Some people think that there is at present no demand for cut- 
over land, but that is not the case. Our Colonization Department 
has for months had unfilled demands for Southern cut-over land, 
and it would be a simple matter to stimulate the demand for such 
land were the railroads to get vigorously behind the movement; 
but, gentlemen, it will take more than exploitation and agricultural 
advice to successfully colonize the cut-over land area. 

First, all must appreciate that the colonist is no longer a pioneer. 
The day of isolation, the squirrel hunter, the log cabin and rail 
fence are past. In this day of high-priced labor the settler will not 
undergo unnecessary hardship and the man with enough energy 
to move to a land of greater opportunity will not put up with slow, 
inefficient methods. Furthermore, the land-seller, community, 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 153 



county, state and nation can no longer afford to let men individually 
hack away on the old-fashioned land-clearing methods. 

If a settler is an asset, it is a business investment to do such 
things as will get him started economically and efficiently and, as 
in this day and age, he won't come unless we do make conditions 
attractive, we have no alternative. The successful, present-day 
colonization methods tend strongly toward paternalism. 

The colonization project must be liberally financed in order to 
enable selling with small initial payments and deferred payments ^ 

extended over a long period of years with reasonable interest. The 
average immigrant has little money and what he has can be utilized 
best for the operation of his farming efforts rather than for large 
payments on the land. If the land is not good security for the de- 
ferred payments, especially with the colonist on it and improving 
it every day, the project is not worthy of consideration. 

Again liberal financing is necessary because at least one-half 
and in all cases as much as possible of every farm unit that is put 
on the market should be cleared and ready for crop as soon as the 
colonist locates, and experience has demonstrated that if part of 
the farm is fenced by the buyer and a house and barn built, which 
he can pay for in his deferred payments, that is a great attraction. 
It also takes money to carry on the demonstration work which 
will guide his efforts most efficiently. 

Schools, churches, stores and community centers all must be 
made available in one M^ay or another. It all takes money and 
liberal financing is justified and of utmost importance. 

Another fact that must be given due consideration is that the 
land-selling business has been developed by specialists into a busi- 
ness in itself. It might almost be termed a science, and the land 
owners individually and collectively will sooner or later appreciate 
that success depends upon either paying for considerable costly ex- 
perience, if they handle the sales themselves, or must pay a fair 
price for the expert services and the tediously built-up organiza- 
tions of those who have specialized upon land-selling. 

The problems of organization and administration which con- 
front each land owner individually are very great and no one of CQ.Queration 
you can afford to study them out alone. Therefore, I hope this Necessary to 
meeting will not close without some form of co-operative associa- Best Results 
tion being inaugurated. 



154 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



At various times large land owners in our territory have dis- 
cussed with me the possibility of developing their lands but it has 
always seemed to me that the fundamentals should be worked out 
co-operatively. Especially in the matter of land-clearing is much 
investigation necessary, and the expense of such an investigation, 
which would be equally valuable to all, should not be a burden to 
any one owner. Neither is it to be expected that any one state 
should do it for all the other states. If the Federal Department 
would do it, well and good, and an association could do well to 
bring all possible influence to bear in favor of such an investigation. 
However, if it is not done otherwise it would be an excellent activ- 
ity for a co-operative organization of cut-over land owners. 

Mr. Carl Livingston, of the Forest Products Laboratory in 
Wisconsin, and who will address you tomorrow, has some very val- 
uable data and has done some great work. I went to Northern Wis- 
consin to see one of his demonstrations and I have followed his 
work closely. However, only yesterday in talking with me on 
the subject he remarked: "You will be surprised to see how slowly 
we are progressing in accumulating definite and dependable figures." 
He mentioned the many difiicultiqs which have confronted him, a 
specialist in the work. I mention the matter to emphasize the fact 
that you should not as individuals try to solve the problem. It is 
a matter you should handle collectively. Just as the implement 
dealers have financed the work of farm implement specialists for 

some of the state agricultural college extension departments, just 
so could you land owners collectively, if you were organized, finance 
such investigations as you, after study of the situation, might find 
practical. 

It is true that the agricultural industry is not universally 
and highly developed upon the cut-over land of the South and 
that many details will have to be worked out. However, every 
speaker has emphasized his optimism as to the 'possibilities, so, 
bearing in mind the many individual successes we know of on 
cut-over land, the great study both State and Federal authori- 
ties have made of the subject and their ability to cope with it 
Already Dem- when the need arises, let us concede that we can raise the vari- 
onstrated ^^^ crops that have been mentioned. Let us concede that the 

live stock industry has great possibilities on cut-over land, and, 
in tomorrow's session, progress to the great questions of indi- 
vidual and collective organization and administration and agri- 
cultural demonstration which confront the cut-over land owner. 



Productivity 
of Cut-Over 
Lands 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 155 

I, personally, am engaged in general farming and commer- 
cial dairying on cut-over land. I believe the business has great 
possibilities, and, in view of my interest in the efforts of many 
of my friends along our line, who have cut-over lands now lying 
idle, in the interest of our railroad, which, unless you develop 
your land, will have an inactive railroad through your inactive 
land, also in behalf of the railroads generally and the many 
thousands of people desiring to locate on inexpensive land, I 
earnestly hope that these problems will be put to the front to- 
morrow and constructive efforts inaugurated. I regret that I 
cannot be with you. 
(Applause.) 

What Florida Is Doing in 
Land Development 

By James R. Murphy 

President of the Florida Land Development and 
Colonization Association 

On behalf of the State of Florida, which unfortunately is 
very poorly represented, I must tell you, if you will bear with 
me for a minute or two, what we have done along the lines of 
organization. I have no inference to what has been said here 
by anyone, but it may in a measure help to solve the problem 
that confronts us all. 

I have the honor of being^ president of the land development 
and colonization interests of the State of Florida. We have in 
Florida, at the present time, 141 recognized land development ^,^ Concerns 
concerns. Of that 141, we have 20 of them in our organization Successfully 
We have an area of land in Florida of some 36 million acres. Operating 
Of that 36 million acres w6 have less than 5 per cent of it under 
cultivation. In our organization we have a representation of 
about 3 million acres of land, mostly cut-over land. Florida 
has been in the public press through the exploitations of some 
of her unfortunate land operators in the past to such an extent 
that it was almost impossible for a land operator to make a liv- 
ing in the state ; and realizing that this existed throughout the 



156 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

country, we organized our land development and colonization 
organization, which had for its purpose the standardizing of the 
sale of land. The standardizing of the sale of land carried with 
it the demonstration of what the land was capable of producing, 

Government and so that organization had to establish demonstration farms. 

hl^A^ ' ^ ""' ^^ searched in every part of the country for all available infor- 
mation, and the Departments of Agriculture have been untiring 
in their efforts to give us assistance. In fact, they have sent 
men down time and again to answer, perhaps, the same question ; 
and we in Florida feel greatly indebted to them. They have 
taught us what grasses to grow ; they have taught us the use and 
advantages of the dipping vat ; and the lumbermen in Florida have 
taken steps for the raising of $50,000 a year, spending $150,000 over 
a period of three years, in a statewide campaign of tick eradica- 
tion ; and this was through the initiative of the Southern Settlement 
and Development organization, co-operating with the Department 
of the State and our largest land owners in the state. Mr. P. L. 
Sutherland, who represents one of the largest land owners in the 
state, has very ably helped the work ; and, gentlemen, I have merely 
mentioned these facts so as to suggest to the various other states 
represented here that in the solution of this great problem we real- 
ized, in Florida, that the most necessary step, first, was a state 
organization ; and we are now ready to^ step into any organization 
that is formed for the betterment of the South. 

J. Lewis Thompson : On behalf of the cut-over land owners 
who called this meeting, I want to say — and I don't believe I am 
the most intelligent, but I believe I am about the average — I 
want to say to you men here today that the reason we are here 
is because we do not know. We are groping in the dark. Re- 
gardless of our railroad friends — they have always felt like 
whenever they wanted to say most anything they went to the lum- 
bermen and got by with it. I think our railroad friend there 
was talking to me and to these others, because I am used to that 
kind of talk coming from the railroads. 

I want to say, on behalf of the land owners, that we are in 
the dark, and in their behalf I want to say that we have had a 
most instructive and the best papers that I have ever heard in 
any meeting; and my only regret is that our entire organization 
could not have heard every paper read here, because I believe that 
before we can go^ down to the point of forming some kind of an 
organization permanently, what we must do is to tell you what 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 157 

we have got to do before we can get down to the organization 
period ; and if our railroad men will stay with us until tomor- 
row — and if they are interested in this vast area of 76 million 
acres, if they are interested to the point that some of them have 
said — no other business could call them away ; they can come 
in and if we can't form an organization we will certainly give 
them an opportunity to contribute. (Applause.) I am glad that 
speech has been made by a railroad man, because I believe it is 
time that one railroad was waking up to the needs of the coun- 
try and co-operating with us in the upbuilding of that country. 
I am glad, too, that he made that statement, because I believe 
we will get down to something before we leave. 



Demonstration Work on 
Cut-Over Lands 

By G. E. Nesom 

Superintendent of Livestock Extension Work in 

Louisiana for the United States Department 

of Agriculture 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Convention, Ladies and 
Gentlemen : — I promise you that I will not burden you with a 
lengthy speech this morning, and that I have nothing prepared 
especially for this occasion. I will, in the main, refer to things 
that have already been said. Those of you who have read "Peck's 
Bad Boy" in your early youth, probably remember the situation 
of the man who was good at figuring. After he had exhausted 
a good many other topics, he began to figure on the cost of Bight and 
fencing; and he found that to fence one acre of land it took a ^^^"^ ways 
fence four acres long, and cost, after calculating the value of the 
materials, and labor, a certain sum ; that by quadrupling this 
area and making the fenced area four acres, it only took twice as 
much to fence the four acres as one acre, therefore reducing the 
cost by one-half; and proceeding in mathematical progression, 
grew to those enormous proportions by which he finally found 
that to fence an area stretching off to the Aurora Borealis, and 
eastward to the rising sun, and southward to the Gulf of Mexico, 



158 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



and westward to the Golden gate, the cost of fencing a single 
acre had been reduced so that a single toothpick would fence it 
and leave enough to build a church. (Laughter.) 

Now, we might do a little figuring on the immensity of this 
cut-over land proposition. Our Chairman told us, on the open- 
ing morning here, that there were some 70 million acres of this 
land, and that it would produce, under certain conditions, from a 
thousand to two thousand dollars' worth of produce. This is al- 
most enough to give every man, woman and child in the United 
States a farm of one acre ; and if they were settled on those 
farms, and each of them produced the minimum of one thousand 
dollars, the vast sum of wealth represented by those farms would 
be 70 billion dollars ; a sum, by the side of which the 7 billion 
dollars that our Congress is now being asked to appropriate to 
finance our army and our navy and the Allied Nations of the 
world, would be merely the usual 10 per cent waiter's tip. 

But this kind of calculation savors of the millennium ; it is 
the theoretical view. This convention has to do with not only an 
average, but with a very practical problem, and the question im- 
mediately involved now is that of developing and bringing into 
productive use as much of this land as possible on a purely prac- 
tical farming basis. 

A good many suggestions have been broached here and a 
good many ideas have been expressed, which in particular touch 
upon vital questions involved in the development of these lands, 
and one of those questions is the desirability of more exact 
knowledge of how this problem can best be accomplished, both 
from the standpoint of pure agriculture, and the still larger ques- 
tion that has been less hinted at — that of the business problems 
involved. 

Now, I want to discuss those two phases just for a few mo- 
ments. It has been suggested that we need a lot of experiment 
stations — a lot of work to find out some of these fundamental 
facts, these important problems, by actual experimental work. 
Using the term experiment or experimental research in its 
Experimenta- strictest sense, I am of the opinion that you do not need it any- 
''O'* thing like as badly as you need the simpler process of demon- 

stration. If the term "experiment" be limited, as it should be, to 
original research, the development of new facts on original scien- 
tific lines, I am of the opinion that we know enough of the fun- 



Demonstra- 
tion Needed 
More Than 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 159 

damental facts surrounding these cut-over lands so that it would 
not be very desirable to waste any large amount of time or money 
in undertaking to do a great volume of original work, because a 
large part of that has been done, either in this section or in other 
sections comparable with it, which would obviate the necessity of 
that experimental work. 

We had pointed out to us by a representative of the Bureau of 
Soils, for example, the fact that the soil survey, although it is by 
no means completed, has covered almost every type of land which 
is represented in the cut-over pine belt ; and we know a great deal 
about those types of land ; and the practical question here to de- 
termine is whether a given piece of land comes within a given ^""^.^^^^^^ 
classification of soil, and then apply the facts already learned Unnecessarv 
regarding that type of soil to that particulcir piece of land. I do 
not believe, for that reason, in any extensive soil survey, but in 
the application of the knowledge we already have of that type, 
or that quality or class of soil, which can be applied by merely 
determining to what classification any particular locality belongs. 
We also know what crops are particularly suited to these 
different soil types, and we have those crops growing in the 
South — practically all of them that are likely to be very useful to 
us in the cut-over district for some time to come. Once we know 
the classification of the soil we can readily find, in the existing 
publications or through inquiry at the special offices controlling 
this work, a large part of the information as to what would be 
best to plant under given conditions. I know very well that there 
is a longing in the human mind always for that which is new and 
novel ; and even in the face of the fact that a given crop has not 
been produced to any considerable extent, if it has succeeded in 
some remote country or in a small area of a limited section of 
the United States, many times a person is inclined to go after 
that rather than to take that which lies right at our doors, al- 
ready tried and found to be absolutely reliable. It is so common ; 
we see it so often, that we cease to think of its value, but look 
at it way in the beyond, like the ultimate end of this great fence. 
I believe in utilizing that which we have with us and which 
has already proven to be the correct thing, and let these other 
things come by a very slow process, and only adopt them on a 
large scale after they have proven their worth. 

Now, to come down further to the particular application of 
these things — to the utilization of the cut-over pine lands — I 



160 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Live Stock 
the Best Gen- 
eral Means 
for Present 
Utilization 



most heartily agree with those speakers who have said that these 
lands must necessarily be utilized for some time yet to come, 
in the main, for the production of live stock. I want also tc 
make a distinction between some of the statements, if made 
literally, regarding grazing and farming. I am of the opinion 
that the extensive use of cut-over lands for purely grazing or 
ranching purposes, uncombined with farming, is not the correct 
line for the utilization of these lands. I believe the system which 
will bring them into use most rapidly is a system of moderate- 
sized farms, where there will be a system of crop production, and 
especially forage, and grain production, combined with stock 
raising; and, on the other hand, I do not think we are right in the 
reduction of the size of these farms to the small farm to which 
some speakers have referred ; and more especially, in the remote 
sections, of their reduction to 10, 15, 20 and 40 acre farms, where 
such intensive things as vegetable gardens, or even dairying, 
cannot be carried on successfully until the country is more de- 
veloped. I think a happy medium between the two is what we 
should seek. 

Now, as to the class of live stock production, I would always 
regard that as being a secondary question. The first question 
is: What will the lands produce and what can the farmer make 
them produce after he has them under his control, in addition 
to what they are already producing in their natural state? The 
confusion which seems to exist in the minds of a great many 
here as to the carrying capacity of these lands, for example, I 
think is so great that a few words on that may help to clarify the 
atmosphere. I believe one man said 1700 acres did not support 
130 head; others have said that after putting as many as one 
Different Sec- animal to two or three acres they did not graze off the forage 
tions Produce crops close enough to suit them; and we have had all kinds of 
Different Re- variations, from some who said it takes 5, or 7^, or 10 or 20 
*""* acres to carry a cow or cow and calf. :The reason for this con- 

fusion, in my opinion, is the fact that one man is speaking of these 
lands under one condition and others under another. The same 
lands will vary very widely at different seasons, and from others 
under different conditions. We want to think of these lands in 
terms of carrying capacity of cattle — they have a rather high 
carrying capacity in proportion to the number of plants that 
grow and the fertility of the soil. They have a lesser carrying 
capacity in the early spring and late summer, and in the late fall 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 161 

and bulk of the winter their carrying capacity is so reduced that 
if a man speaks of them at that time, it is doubtful whether 
anyone could approximate the amount of land it would take to 
carry an animal. In fact, I have a letter from a lumber company 
in Southwestern Louisiana, in which they put the question to 
me, "How much of this land will it take to carry an animal the 
year round?" I answered them, in effect, that while it was satis- 
factory pasturage in the late spring and early summer, in the 
heart of the winter I did not believe their whole parish would 
carry a small herd satisfactorily, simply because there is nothing 
on that cut-over pine land after the frost has killed it. There 
are a few wire grasses; and the cattle having access to the win- 
ter-growing grass which we occasionally have, or to the cane 
swamps, which are very limited in extent, may do well. Ti con- 
fined strictly to the cut-over lands where it is open and the yel- 
low pine growth has had full sway, there is so little on that land 
in the winter time on which cattle can subsist that the carrying 
capacity is reduced almost to zero. 

Now, if this problem is to be looked at from the grazing 
standpoint, and does not involve forage production and the feed- Forage Pro- 
ing of those herds in the winter time, when the pasturage is at duction 
its lowest ebb, we certainly cannot have a cattle industry which Essential 
can be at all satisfactory. 

I need not discuss the question of the hog industry, because 
it has been considered by everybody in the South that the day 
of the range hog is past — that he would certainly have the poorest 
chance to graze the year round on these pine woods. It has 
produced a type of hog which did not exist before, and which is 
rapidly going out. Hog raising is on a better basis now, and we 
do not expect anybody to undertake range hog raising in the 
pine belt. 

But there is another class of animals which has been dis- 
cussed — and I do not wish to anticipate what anybody else will 
say of the sheep industry — but that should go hand in hand with 
the cattle industry, and on the same basis. In fact, I am not 
sure if many of these grasses are not better suited to sheep than 
cattle. The feeding problem would probably be less serious in 
winter, and especially so if Prof. Tracy's advice is taken as to 
providing plenty of velvet beans for winter grazing purposes. 

I might discuss this question of forages at considerable 
length, but it has already been discussed by representatives here. 



162 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



dealing especially with the South, and I shall not go into it any 
further. 

Now, as to the business questions involved. Those of you 
who own this land, have no doubt spent many worried days and 
nights trying to devise a scheme by which you could sell those 
Business lands. The average owner of cut-over pine lands in large areas 

Problems wants to sell. That is the uppermost thought in his mind. I 

do not think that should be the uppermost thought. I think the 
first consideration, under existing conditions and viewed from 
the business standpoint, is that every owner should desire to im- 
prove those lands and make them more valuable than they are. 
so that he can get more nearly what they are really worth for 
agricultural purposes. We have been told here that pioneering is 
not a trait of the modern farmer. I know this is the case with 
the American people, and especially when they attempt to work 
as corporations or to use large aggregations of capital. I know 
that the very small farmer, who has no means and nothing to 
work with but his own hands, is handicapped in developing his 
farm, because he has neither the means himself nor possesses 
the credit to obtain them ; and the question of what the land- 
owner should do to fit those lands for farming, all the way be- 
tween those two extremes, is a problem which has to be thought 
out from a business standpoint. There are certain things, how- 
ever, which we may conceive as already demonstrated and ac- 
cepted facts. In the first place, I want to mention the fact that 
these lands belong to the people who hold title to them, and 
they have a perfect right tO' use them for their own purposes, and 
they have a perfect right to exclude people who have cattle, for 
example, but have no land and raise their live stock by grazing 
them on the other man's land ; and that right must not be denied 
to the owners of these lands if they choose to fence them ; and 
there comes in an important question which I think is going to 
be at the basis of developing these lands for live stock purposes. 
In many sections of the cut-over pine belt, tick eradication has 
made splendid progress ; in others, we are going to have a great 
deal of trouble to complete that process. There are conditions 
under which there is going to be great difficulty in getting that 
TkF H' work supported. I think every owner of cut-over land should 
tion Basis of insist that his land be freed from ticks, and if he cannot get the 
Cattle Indus- cooperation of the other people of his community to free that 
try whole parish from ticks, he can at least reserve to himself the 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 163 

right to fence up his own lands and free that from ticks; and if 
that was done in some parishes in this state I want to say that 
there would be mighty few grazing lands left. Tick eradication 
is going to be the basis of the modern cattle industry on these 
cut-over pine lands, whether it is done, or is in process, or is yet 
to be undertaken. It must be finished before any extensive cat- 
tle business can be brought about ; because we must introduce 
better blood for those herds, or entirely new herds, as one of 
our speakers explained yesterday ; and I maintain that there are 
plenty of men in this cut-over belt who are able to establish 
those pure bred herds ; we know that, but unfortunately, like 
the calculation on the cost of fencing an acre, the average man 
is not able to do that, and you must keep within practical bounds 
and not go beyond your financial ability in trying tO' do some- 
thing you are not financially able to do, and of which you would 
not make a success. The average herd must be improved by 
breeding, in order to bring the cattle up to a better standard. 
We must not subject them to the nuisance of these ticks, which 
will ruin many of them and result in losses we can ill afford to 
sustain. 

The fencing of these lands, in my opinion, is one of the es- 
sentials for their best development. The next problem and the 
biggest one of them all, is the removal of the stumps from that 

portion of the soil to be cultivated for the production of the „ 

• r, , •,-i-,,, ,• Fencing and 

wmter feeds ; at least, it certamly is desirable that this process stump Re- 
he pushed forward until all the farm shall ultimately be freed moval 
from stumps. These stumps are such a serious obstruction to 
moderji farming, such a detriment to every process we under- 
take, that their total elimination from cultivated areas must be 
a prime consideration. 

Now, I do not think we are all agreed on how this stump 
removal shall proceed. There have been a great many processes 
tried ; a great deal of data has been accumulated, and especially 
by the people operating these demonstration or experiment farms ^^^^ Land- 
on properties of the different companies: but that information ,.^?^!'^^P ^.., 
, ,-,,jjj , Methods Stil 

has not been consolidated and reduced to a system so that we Uncertain 

can draw a definite conclusion ; and, as someone has hinted, I 
doubt if we will ever get much of that information. We do know, 
however, that the yellow pine stump is one of the hardest propo- 
sitions that any stump puller has ever tackled. There is noth- 
ing in the line of stumps near so difficult. We do know that at 



164 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

least in a few instances every success has attended the burning 
of these stumps by that simple process of digging a post hole, 
boring an augur hole down through the stump and letting it 
dry out, and then building a fire in that post hole so that this 
augur hole will act as a flue and will contain so much rosin that 
it will readily burn out in most cases. 

Now, the men who demonstrated that the average of these 
lands could be cleared at a price not to exceed $10 per acre, by 
contract, has attracted a wonderful lot of notice which is of value 
from a business standpoint in the handling of this problem. If I 
were a farm operator, that information would be very valuable 
to me ; but we have not yet gotten to the point where we can 
get hold of this information at a given time. We are given some 
of it merely in fragments. 

Now I come to another point, which I hesitate to broach and 
which I do on my personal responsibility rather than as an of- 
ficial of the United States Department of Agriculture. It has 
been suggested that some form of organization be perfected here 
Land Owners by which all the information thus developed can be consolidated, 

, a> ^^^ ^1^^^ definite arrangements be made by which additional in- 

change Infor- , . ... , ° , , -i , , r ,i • • 

mation formation will be gotten and made available for all parties in- 

terested in this great problem. Now, if we look to see what has 
been done, we find the Federal Government and the several 
States are only touching this problem very lightly. Some of 
them have several experiment stations and demonstration farms 
and have developed certain information which can be had for 
those particular localities. There are probably several hundred 
lumber companies which maintain demonstration farms and ex- 
periment stations, or whatever you choose to call them. I be- 
lieve most of them are small demonstration farms where they 
are getting a lot of valuable information ; but they put that in- 
formation in their files in their offices and use it for their own 
purposes, and no one else profits by it ; and more especially do 
we not get that information which is of an adverse nature, and 
which sometimes is worth more to us than the positive facts de- 
veloped. When you get a warning what not to do, you are just 
as well off as when you get information as to what you should 
do ; because in the one case you positively have a loss, and in 
the other you merely have an opportunity to make a gain. If 
the interests of these cut-over pine land owners could be con- 
solidated in such manner that all the information, both pro and 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 165 

con, developed on all these demonstration farms could be con- 
solidated and then be distributed to everybody concerned, it 
vv^ould make a fine lot of information well developed ; and this is 
one of the things I would suggest as being desirable. Now, it 
is probable that if this series of farms were looked over, we 
would find that they were not ideally located so as to cover all 
types of the cut-over district. We had reference yesterday to the 
Orangeburg Sand and others of the Greenville clay type, all of 
which represent more or less distinct types of country. Are 
these farms so located that we could get data from all classes of 
them, in case they were all consolidated, and the data were pub- 
lished in some bulletin or other consolidated form? In my 
opinion, we would have to go a little further and have a central 
clearing house, through which it would be more certain that all 
types would be represented. Some system might be arranged 
for buying some of the present farms which adequately repre- 
sent the work on different types of land. 

I would rather call these demonstration farms than experi- 
ment stations. I believe they ought to be under a consolidated 
management. I believe their management should have the best 
agricultural talent that can be had. I know some farmers trying 
to demonstrate facts regarding cut-over pine lands today, where 
their work has been to a large extent vitiated, due to the fact t n 

that their failure has been brought about by men from other sec- Qgngpcil Man- 
tions, who may have been an eminent success, but who are not agement 
competent, with all due respect to their success otherwise, to 
handle the question of agriculture in this section with which they 
are probably not familiar. The new system of demonstration 
farms of this kind should be under the control of men who know 
agriculture primarily. 

Now, I want to go one step further and suggest a practical 
means by which this can be done, and I will illustrate it by say- 
ing that a few years ago, when the Hawaiian Islands were at- 
tempting to develop the sugar business along modern lines, they 
sought the world over for some information. The Louisiana 
State University at that time had about the only sugar school 
and experiment station that was doing very much, and I violate 
no confidence when I say that Louisiana did not look with a 
great deal of favor on seeing the Hawaiian Islands go into the 
sugar field, and they didn't go out of their way to give the 
Hawaiian planters any particular information. They soon re- 



166 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Early Diffi- 
culties of Ha- 
waiian Sugar 
Industry 
Solved by Co- 
operative 
Association 



One Cent an 
Acre Means 
$750,000 



solved that if they couldn't get any information regarding" their 
own industry in their own Islands, they must get it at their 
own expense and in their own way ; and after conferring and 
consulting for quite a while, they decided they would establish 
4t on a thoroughly business principle, which would hold good 
as long as they chose to perpetuate it, and which would give 
certain returns ; and the system agreed upon was that every 
manufacturer of sugar in the Hawaiian Islands, who chose to 
become a member of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, 
should ship his sugar or report his sugar through the Associa- 
tion, in Honolulu ; and that he should pay into the treasury of 
this Association the sum of 25 cents on every ton of sugar which 
he turned out from his factory. This sum of money was con- 
solidated and used by their agricultural board for the establish- 
ment, maintenance and operation of the Experiment Station, 
which was to send out information regarding the sugar industry 
in the Hawaiian Islands. This fund, in a few years, had reached 
fifty and then ninety thousand dollars, and now it is a hundred 
thousand dollars. They have one of the best sugar experiment 
stations in the world and they are doing splendid work. In 
later years they have correlated it, more or less, with the Gov- 
ernment work, and thus, to some extent, the information which 
they are developing there is available to other people; but, in 
the main, the facts developed have gone, in published form, and 
in letters, circulars and otherwise to the members of this Asso- 
ciation ; and to this day, whenever they have anything which 
they think might be used by the other fellow to their disadvan- 
tage, they give it only to their members. 

Now, if these gentlemen who own these lands, desire to 
institute a system which will work for the common good of the 
cut-over pine lands, and to use this same idea — which is entirely 
practicable — the raising of the necessary funds by a very small 
assessment against the lands, they can do it. You can soon see 
what 1 cent an acre would mean on this 75 million acres — $750,- 
000. One-tenth of a cent an acre would give you $75,000, if all 
the land were included. 1 don't know how much you might want 
to raise, but if you could raise any such sums as that, some work 
could be developed which would give you much of the informa- 
tion you seek, and which is so badly needed ; at least, the con- 
solidation of existing facts and their application to your par- 
ticular problems. 



in Cut-Over 
Lands 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 167 

Before closing, I will say, in a brief way, that I have been 
watching" these cut-over lands very closely during the past three 
years, and in my opinion they are a splendid agricultural re- 
source, with wonderful possibilities. I do not mean to say 
they will compare with our richer lands in Louisiana or Mis- 
sissippi, but I do say they are valuable agricultural lands that 
are quite capable of sustaining a large population and capable Wonderful 
of producing an immense amount of wealth by a production Possibilities 
which will compare very favorably with the average lands of 
the South ; and I trust that the examples already set by many 
concerns and individuals in demonstrating their possibilities, and 
bringing them into practical use, especially at this stage of the 
great crisis, will not be delayed longer than is absolutely neces- 
sary, and that you will bend your efforts towards making them 
contribute their part towards the support, not only of the Gov- 
ernment in times of peace, but more particularly at this eminent 
crisis. I thank you. (Applause.) 

S. F. Morse : I just want to drive home a very important 
point made by Dr. Nesom, by a concrete instance. The point I 
mean was, that there was, to a large degree, enough practical 
experience and demonstration to enable us to determine what can 
be done and to formulate a plan for the development of these 
lands. 

The experience which I wish to state is this : About three 
years ago, in the State of Arizona, when they started the agri- 
cultural extension work, we found ourselves covering a large 
area of land about which we knew nothing. At the outset, as I 
just stated, we found we had no experimental data for the de- 
velopment of these large areas of land. What were we to do? 
These lands had many settlers on them and they were crying out 
for information. We didn't bother with the experiment sta- 
tion ; we cut loose and got busy and found out what they were 
doing in other states and in other parts of the country where 
conditions were similar. We investigated the live stock business 
and got different experiences, and then we worked with the 
farmers and gave them this experience. The result is that to- 
day, where we were previously shipping in sack lots, we are now 
shipping in carload lots ; and that has only been within a period 
of three years. 

That was done, as Dr. Nesom has suggested, by taking the 
different conditions in other parts of the country, and of the dif- 



168 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The Distinc- 
tion Between 
Experimenta- 
tion and 
Demonstra- 
tion 



ferent states and the Federal Government, and giving that in- 
formation to the farmer in practical form. The point was: 
That information had to be passed through a central source, and 
translated into terms of practical application to the local con- 
ditions, and that is what you people have today. I simply want 
to give you confidence in this proposition. 

Dr. C. V. Piper: There is a very important distinction be- 
tween experimentation and demonstration. You cannot demon- 
strate a thing until you know it. Do you get that? Now, I 
think my friend's ideas are not very far off, but I don't like his 
confusing two words, experimentation and demonstration. If I 
understood the speakers right yesterday, they think that with 
the information we already possess live stock farming on an ex- 
tensive scale on these cut-over lands can be made successful. 
They had in mind the establishment, under practical conditions 
and with a minimum expense, a place where all these pieces of 
knowledge could be put together and then cited. I submit to 
you that this is an experiement station, not a place of demonstra- 
tion. If we had the knowledge we could go ahead and do it. I 
call that demonstration. Then there would be no need of the 
meeting here today. The experiment station that I had in mind 
and that Dr. Nesom had in mind are pretty nearly one and the 
same thing; but until we have the knowledge, you cannot call it 
a demonstration. It is a very important distinction; and I 
think we will get our minds confused if we confuse experimen- 
tation and demonstration. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 169 

How Louisiana Is Solving the 
Reforestation Problem 

By M. L. Alexander 

Commissioner Department of Conservation, 
State of Louisiana 

How Louisiana is solving the reforestation problem by the 
actual growing of trees was told the Cut-Over Land Conference 
of the South by Hon. M. L. Alexander, Commissioner, Depart- 
ment of Conservation, State of Louisiana. 

"On the State Forest Reserve at Urania, La., a forest is 
being made again," said Mr. Alexander. "Not a wild tangle- 
wood of shrubs and seedlings, but of real trees. Trees that will 
make lumber of a superior grade are growing on fields that dur- 
ing the Civil War period grew cotton for blockade running to 
England. Here we have trees of every age that were not of the 
virgin forests, but sprang from them, and in which the hand of 
man has but assisted nature." 

The speaker declared that one of the first results of the ex- 
periments was to discover that, not forest fires, as had at first 
been supposed, but the razorback hog, was responsible for the 
fact that the prized long-leaf pine had for many years failed to 
reforest itself. 

"Mr. Hardtner's investigations," he continued, "proved that 
the kernel of the long-leaf seed is oily, rich in nutritious matter, 
and palatable to the hog. When the seedlings are one year old 
the root and short stem are spongy, sweet and tender, and it is 
amazing how many seeds, seedlings and saplings a razorback 
can finish up in a half a day's work, one hog averaging five seed- 
lings a minute. The seed of the short-leaf and loblolly are very 
small, and neither these nor the seedlings are relished by the 
hogs. 

"On the preserve we now have 2,500 acres inclosed with a 
hog-proof wire fence, 2,500 acres under an ordinary fence and 
2,500 unfenced. In the hog-proofed area the long-leaf pine seed- 
lings are numerous, in the regularly fenced area there are a very 



Razor-Back 
Hog a Menace 



170 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Longleaf 
Seedlings 
Survive Fire 



Profits in Re- 
forestation 



few, and in the unfenced tract there is not one — a complete de- 
struction of the seed crop. 

"Experiments have been made of burning over tracts by 
setting fire to the sedge grass that grows very heavily on the 
preserve. It makes a very hot fire, but from actual count from 
50 tO' 90 per cent of the long-leaf seedlings survived the con- 
flagration, and in a few days the buds put forth new green 
straw, and they are healthy' and vigorous today. The fire would 
burn off the seedlings' straw close to the ground, but the bud is 
evidently green e'nough to survive the scorching, and a two or 
three-year-old seedling will survive the fire much better than the 
year-old ones. 

"Mr. Hardtner and I are convinced that reforestation of 
long-leaf is impossible where the hog roams at large rootmg up 
the seedlings ; we are convinced that fire does not do as much 
damage as was thought, but notwithstanding all this we are op- 
posed to fire at any time and do not advocate its use. If forest 
areas are to be burned over to remove dried grasses, let it be 
done in the proper season — the winter following a rain that has 
soaked the ground. Very little damage will be done then. 

"We have long advocated the leaving of one or more seed 
trees to an acre when the lumberman fells the timber for his 
sawmills. This is truly a method of conservation, and if ad- 
hered to by lumbermen will soon have the cut-over area re- 
forested with seedlings. If these seedlings are properly pro- 
tected and the young trees thinned as they grow, the forest that 
will take the place of the original will yield even richer returns 
in from fifty to sixty years. 

"If this method of reforestation is carried out, in forty years 
one may expect to have a good stand of timber on forest lands, 
hardly ready for the millman's saw, but good thriving trees 
ready for lumbering during the next ten to twenty years thereafter. 

"At Urania it is being demonstrated that it is just as easy 
to grow 50,000 feet of timber to the acre in sixty years by as- 
sisting nature as it is for unaided nature to produce 5,000 feet 
in the same period. And thinning does not mean endless ex- 
pense for the tree farmer, for we have! demonstrated on the State 
Forest Reserve, using a 21-acre plot of short-leaf and loblolly, 
that proper thinning gave 180 cords of wood, 555 tram ties, and 
200 posts worth $258.75 at a laboring cost of $205.00, a profit of 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 17J 

$53.75, or $2.55 an acre. This sort of profit is sufificient to pay 
all taxes and incidental expenses. 

''Accurate measurement has been taken of the trees in the 
different lots, photographs taken, and in some cases every tree num- 
bered and recorded so that comparative figures will give abso- 
i-olute proof of the growth from season to season. Our method 
is to let nature take its course in the matter of seeding for re- 
forestation. This is very satisfactory and there is no expense of 
tree planting by hand to deduct from the profits when the lum- 
ber is sold. With long-leaf pine seed crops are infrequent and 
several years elapse between the crops. This is not so with 
short-leaf and loblolly ; therefore, reforestation on denuded areas 
with these species is not difficult if seed trees have been left 
standing, as a crop can be counted on almost every season. At 
Urania our records show that there was no crop of long-leaf 
mast in 1912, a hundred per cent crop in 1913, a 5 per cent crop 
in 1914-15, and a 50 per cent crop in 1916. In virgin forests, of 
long-leaf, the seed seasons are sometimes five or ten years apart, 
but vigorous young pines in denuded areas bear seed more fre- 
quently and abundantly. 

"A record made on an acre in one of the experimental plots 
shows 251 trees ranging three inches and under to 22 inches D. 
B. H. will yield at the present time 13,544 feet. By adding four 
inches to the growth in 20 years it will yield 42,388 feet. Stump- Growing a 
age now sells at $5 per thousand feet, but twenty years from Forest at $2 a 
now we will be safe in presuming that it will sell for $10 a Thousand 
thousand, or $423.88! If converted into lumber and delivered to 
Northern markets it will be worth at least $1,200. Mr. Hardt- 
ner's recapitulation is that the cost of growing timber will be 
around $2 a thousand feet. 

"Thus have we met the reforestation problem in Louisiana 
and our theories have been sound, as our results indicate. We 
can show you that timber can be grown on timber land at a 
profit. We can demonstrate that lumber that has long been 
supposed not to perpetuate itself does so if enemies are removed. 
We have a healthy regard for the dread forest fire, but we have 
also learned that it is not so bad as we have been thinking it. 

"We also believe that the owner of cut-over land will find it 
to his advantage to go timber farming, and that all cut-over land 
does not necessarily have to be plowed under for crops until 



Feet 



172 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



there is need for this land, and that the interim can be profitably 
spent in working out reforestation." 

Mr. Alexander declared that before reforestation can be suc- 
cessfully carried out, existing methods of taxation on timber 
lands would have to be radically reformed. 



Some Problems (9/ Colonizing 
Cut-Over Lands 

By H. A. Weare 

of Mobile, Ala. 

It was not my intention to take any active part in this pro- 
gram, here, but I would like to make a few remarks covering an 
experience of sixteen years in which I have been handling and 
studying cut-over lands in the Gulf Coast territory. My specialty 
is handling timber lands, and I believe it is always necessary to 
handle cut-over lands as well. What really brought me to my 
feet is the remark Mr. Alexander just made in reference to the 
distillation plants. 

In making a study of these cut-over lands and how to handle 
them, I have concluded that these distillation plants should 
really be put in with every proposition. What does it mean? 
It means that the man clearing up his own land is really helped, 
as he gets a good market for his stumps. 

Another question not dwelt upon very much is the question 
of marketing your products. In looking around and observing 
the different farmers in the Gulf Coast territory I have had every 
farmer tell me, "We have no difficulty in producing crops, but 
we do have a hard time in finding a sale for them." That is 
The Question something that must be taken up and considered in connection 
of Marketing with settling your land. You can bring people down here from 
the North and produce the stuff, but you must give them an 
outlet to sell it. When I first came South and started buying 
some of these cut-over lands, my friends told me I was very 
foolish. That was sixteen years ago. They thought it was abso- 
lutely no good. To illustrate to you what some men thought 



Distillation 
Plants Make 
Stumping 
Profitable 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 173 

of it, I know one man who sold 50,000 acres and stated to me 
later, "I slipped in -10,000 acres of cut-over land at the same 
price and they never noticed it." 

In determining why I thought these lands would have a 
value, in going around I would find that one farmer was raising 
velvet beans and other fine crops ; I would find another man 
who had cow peas; another man produced a big crop of Irish 
potatoes ; and in that way I found, scattered all around, where 
they were producing practically all the different things we have 
heard mentioned here today. I have seen that for years. It has 
all been demonstrated. I really believe that is the way you will 
get your land settled. It is very difficult to go to Iowa and 
bring those good farmers down here and settle them in the 
wilderness. You will find that most localities in this country 
require three sets of people, before the good substantial farmer 
arrives. Another thing is that we are all getting good roads and 
automobiles, and though you are eight or ten miles out in the 
country you can still keep in touch with things. 

In selling these large tracts I have noticed one great diffi- 
culty has been that so many of the colonizers do not care any- 
thing about what becomes of the men after they sell them a 
tract. That is one of the greatest difficulties. I have sold a Proper Care 
good many large tracts, and I have observed that in 60 or 70 ^^-^t ^ ^ ' 
per cent of the cases it is just that way. They don't seem to 
care where the man lands after he gets there. That is all wrong. 
You must look after the man and see that he is taken care of. 



onist 



174 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The South's 
Advantages 
for Dairying 



S.ome Essen- 
tials to Suc- 
cessful Dairy- 
ing 



The Dairy Industry of the 

South 

By C. W. Radway 

Dairy Specialist, Bureau of Animal Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture 

There are several reasons why the dairy industry should be 
prosperous in the South. The South is well adapted, I believe, 
to successful dairying. One of the reasons for this is the climate. 
The barns or buildings that are needed are less expensive than 
those needed in the North ; and the climate is such that we can 
depend upon pasture for eight months out of the year. I might 
state there that some people are trying to depend upon twelve 
months of the year, and those people are the ones making a failure. 

We have been doing some record work and testing and 
weighing milk all over the state, and for the past four months 
we have not been able to find any piney woods cows producing 
much butter fat. Another thing is that forage crops can be very 
easily raised here in the South. But, however, with all these 
advantages, there are some essentials to the dairy business that 
must not be overlooked. One of these essentials for success is 
efiicient dairy cows. Second, is sufficient home grown feed ; and 
the man that comies down here with the intention of going into 
the dairy business must see to it that he is locating in a place 
where he can grow forage for his cattle. It will not do to start 
a dairy farm where you can grow nothing but strawberries or 
rice. If you intend to start the dairy business on such land you 
are going to fail. The third essential, to go with -these other 
two — the cow and the feed — is the man. A man has to under- 
stand how to take care of a cow, how to feed that cow, and how 
to make a good product, whether he is selling whole milk, cream 
or making butter; and in connection with this milk problem, or 
with the dairy products, one of the main things is quality. Those 
people in Louisiana making good butter have no trouble at all 
in marketing it. Those people making a poor product find that 
product is not wanted. We have several instances here in 
Louisiana — one man at New Iberia cannot supply the demand. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 175 



He could sell three times as much butter as he is making at the 
present time. The Ruston Creamery, at Ruston, Louisiana, can- 
not fill half the orders they have at the present time, and the 
same is true of the New Iberia Creamery. 

There are several advantages to be derived from dairying. 
The first advantage, which should appeal very strongly to every 
Southern farmer, is that the dairy, well conducted, improves the 
soil. A dairyman in North Louisiana, on cut-over lands, who 
started in about six years ago on land that was producing less 
than one-third a bale of cotton to the acre. He saved the ferti- 
lizer from that dairy and put it back on the land, and today he 
is producing as much cotton on half the ground he did six years 
ago. In other words, in six years' time, with the intelligent use 
of the dairy and his by-products, he has doubled the productive 
capacity of that farm. Another thing is that it furnishes a mar- 
ket for crops, as some of the crops that cannot be marketed be- 
cause of the small quantity and the distance to market. If a 
man has only a few tons of pea vine hay or soy bean hay, and 
cannot get it to the market, the best market is the dairy cow. 
Again, he may have some forage crops that are not in market- 
able condition, some that are poor in quality. That can be used 
for feeding and put right back on the soil. One instance of this: 
At New Iberia a man used cane tops for silage — not that I would 
advocate cane tops for silage, but it helps out in his feeding, and 
is one of the by-products of the cane. 

A man that makes a good quality of product, butter or cream 
or whole milk, is sure of a market ; but the quality must be good. 
I might state at this time that in any whole milk industry, a 
great improvement can be made by more winter dairying. In 
that way a more uniform supply can be furnished in the cities. 
Last November and December some of the places along the 
Illinois Central were shipping only about half what they are at 
the present time, which, you see, is not the best way of doing. 

Some of the farmers claim they are not making money in 
the dairy business. There are some reasons for that. First, the 
cost of production is too high ; and there are many cows in this 
state that are not paying for the feed they eat. The second 
reason is the lack of system in feeding. If you investigate some 
of the good farms, you will find that every cow in that dairy is 
getting the same amount of feed, regardless of the amount of 
milk she produces. Third, you will find there is no economy 



The Cow as a 
Soil Improver 



Dairy Prod- 
ucts Com- 
mand Beady 
Market 



Reasons for 
Dairying Fail- 
ures 



176 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



in the labor. Much of the work may be saved ; much of the work 
may be done to better advantage by doing things a little dif- 
ferent, and possibly locating a little differently. Fourth, is poor 
equipment. Many of you are not sufficiently equipped to handle 
the milk and get it tO' market in good condition. Fifth, is the 
cattle tick, which will be spoken of later; and we trust that the 
cattle tick will be eradicated in a very short time. Also, one of 
the most vital things is the lack of home grown feed. Among the 
farmers we have visited within the past three or four months, 
those people having no home grown feed were contemplating 
selling their dairies because they could not afford to buy feed 
from the market. 

Now, these apparent disadvantages are being overcome. 
One of the best ways of farming here is by getting better cows. 
It is essential that we have this. We have a farmer at New 
Iberia who just bought a few cows. One of them had a year's 
record of 600 pounds of butter fat. When you compare that with 
a cow producing 100 to 150 pounds, you may see the difference. 
Another way is by weeding out the poor cows by herd record 
work. One of the dairies in the northern part of the state had 
35 cows. It started the record work there a little over a year 
ago, and three or four months ago we began selling cows that 
were proving they were not paying any profit. After eight cows 
were sold, and by better feeding of the remainder, we sold as 
much milk as we had from the original 35. By this record work 
better methods are being introduced ; better care is being taken 
of the milk; better feeding is resulting; better care of the cows; 
and it gives the farmers a better chance to plant for home 
grown feed. This record work along the dairy line, I believe, is 
the most important part of the work that we do. I might say 
that the Live Stock Extension Service is supervising the record 
work of some of the dairies in this state, and some interesting 
results are found. 

Two years ago a visit was made to a dairyman. After ex- 
plaining the advantages of keeping records of each individual 
An Example cow he decided to keep a complete record of his herd. Each 
of Successful cow's milk was weighed each night and morning and a butter- 
Dairy Opera- f^^ ^gg^ ^^g niade once a month. Each cow was charged with 
the feed she had eaten. . At the end of the year four cows were 
sold that were making no profit at all. The second year cane tops 
were used with corn for silage. Four cows were added to the 



Results from 
Good and 
Poor Cows 



lion 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



177 



dairy to make 50 (the original number). Last year, by the use 
of cane tops and home grown feeds, $300 was saved on feed and 
more butter fat was produced than the year before from the same 
number of cows. When the record began at that dairy the aver- 
age butter fat production per cow per year was about 170 lbs. 
At present the average is about 240 lbs., and at the end of this 
year all cows not making 250 lbs. of butter fat will be sold. By 
systematic feeding, business methods, and home grown feeds, this 
man has saved $300 per year on feed ; at the same time has in- 
creased the butter fat production per cow 70 lbs. per year. This 
is an increase of about $30 per cow or on 50 cows this record 
work has been worth $1,500 to this man. This is not the only 
improvement he has made ; he has increased the fertility of 
his soil until other farmers around him are commenting on the 
excellent crops on his farm. 

This work of record keeping is being carried on with several 
other farmers with excellent results. One dairyman at Monroe. 
La., last week found that three of his cows were making more 
profit than the other nine. It is essential, with the high price of 
feed, that the dairyman feed only cows that are capable of turn- 
ing that feed into butterfat and leave a profit. With the ad- 
vancing prices of dairy feeds it is fast becoming necessary for 
the dairy farmer to "weed out" all unprofitable cows or else he 
will find the dairy on the wrong side of the ledger. Many dairy- 
men are planning on more home grown feed than they have 
ever raised before. They are very wise to do this under the 
present outlook. Some of the dairymen who have been raising 
their own feed are setting the pace in the dairy business for the 
rest of the farmers. One man on the cut-over lands has been 
in the dairy business for about five years and each year he has 
increased the amount of home grown feed. Last year he built 
a silo and raised corn for 50 tons of silage ; in addition he has 
sufficient soy beans and pea-vine hay to feed all the stock 
through the year. All the grain he had to buy was a little cot- 
tonseed meal to help balance up the ration. This dairyman is 
one of the most prosperous men in that portion of the state. 
This year he is planning on building a new house with the sav- 
ings from the cream checks (and he saved a little each month 
because he did not have to swop his cream checks for feed). 
This man used his land to help feed his dairy and he used his 
dairy to help feed his land. The two are working well together. 



Three Cows 
Worth More 
Than. Nine 



178 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



and the crop production is getting bigger each year. He is well 
pleased with the results from the dairy and knows that the dairy 
and the land must work together. When we consider that this 
man started with little or no capital, on a poor farm, with no 
buildings worth speaking of, we must realize that he has been 
following a safe method. His method or prime object has been 
to build up the land by the use of the dairy fertilizer, to grow 
all the roughage for the dairy, and as much of the grain as pos- 
sible ; he has also practised rotation of crops to good advantage. 
The results of this system is being noticed by other farmers in 
that locality. Several are beginning to follow the same method. 
It has been clearly shown that feed crops can be grown on the 
hilly lands and on the cut-over lands and must be grown if the 
farmer ever expects to make a success. He must also realize 
that the land cannot do its best without live stock on it; that the 
dairy in particular will build up the land faster than can be done 
by any other method ; also he must realize that in keeping the 
dairy he must grow his own feed, or at least all the roughage 
His Own Feed and as much of the grain feeds as possible. 

Last year we spent a good deal of time on the worn out 
cotton lands of North Louisiana urging the farmers to plant 
velvet beans. We had some difficulty to get them to try this 
plan. Several tried velvet beans, however, and this year the 
difficulty is to get enough seed. Some of the dairymen who did 
not raise their own feed are going out of the business ; those who 
raised their feed are making good. The difference between the 
dairyman who raises his own feed and the one who buys his feed 
is the difference between success and failure. As the prices of 
feed stuffs advance, this difference becomes greater. It is im- 
perative that we urge in every possible way the dairyman to 
grow his own feed. Our whole campaign at present is "home 
grown feed and better cows." 



To Succeed, 
Dairyman 
Must Faise 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 179 

Some Suggestions for Dairy- 
ing on Cut-Over Lands 

By N. P. Hull 

President of the National Dairy Union 

As your chairman says, I have come a long- way — came 
down from Lansing, Michigan. I have been interested in dairy- 
ing all my life ; started in to milk cows when I was knee high to 
a June bug and have followed it all my life. I have come South 
to tell you about the dairy business and how it ought to be ap- 
plied in the South. I will tell you that story in ten minutes. I 
can talk pretty quickly, too. Perhaps you want to know why : 
Up in Alichigan we manufacture 72 per cent of all the automo- 
biles made in the United States. We don't use them all there but 
we test them all there. These automobiles run up and down and 
all around, and the people there are divided into two classes — the 
quick and the dead. (Laughter.) 

I am not going to say all I had in mind to say to you. 1 
have heard a great deal about the wonderful fertility of the soil 
and the wonderful opportunities in the Southland. I have 
traveled over this Southland considerably, as well as over the 
other lands — practically all the other states. In my work con- 
nected with the National Dairy Union, and as President of the 
American Dairy Farmers' Association, and connected with sev- 
eral other associations, I have lectured on dairying from one 
ocean to the other, and for two years to the Canadian Govern- 
ment. So I feel I have at least had an opportunity to know 
something about dairying. I have also had an opportunity to 
know something about conditions in the different sections of the 
United States. 

I might repeat again — I have heard a great deal about the 
opportunities of the Southland. I am running a dairy in Michi- 
gan, and a great many other people are. We are buying carload 
after carload of cottonseed meal grown upon the land of the 
South. We pay $L00 for your cottonseed meal for feeding to our 
dairy cows, and from those dairy cows we send the butter back 
to New Orleans and sell it. and we sell vou two dollars' worth 



180 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Making a Dol- 
lar Bring Two 
in Return 



Dairying 
Makes High- 
Priced Rich 
Lands 



Three Kinds 
of Cows 



of butter for every dollar's worth of cottonseed meal we buy 
from you. Your land grows that cottonseed meal ; it takes the 
fertility from your lands; you send it to us, and we feed it to 
our dairy cows, and sell it back to you for $2.00. That may be 
good business for you in the South, but I don't see how it can 
be. We are satisfied if you are. But you ought not to be satis- 
fied, gentlemen. It means that the man who tills the land here 
in the South should not blight the land he tills, and too many of 
you fellows here in the South have been blighting your land until 
it is not as good and attractive land as it was a few years ago. 
You ask me how I know? I don't know just about this par- 
ticular vicinity, but I do know about several other vicinities, and 
I dare say it is true in this part of the country. 

Now the solution. In my judgment — and I know it is true 
in every other section — you go to the richest and highest price 
land in Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, and you will find that the 
industry that made that high price and made the farmers that 
handle that land so prosperous, was dairying. You go into the 
cut-over land of Michigan and find a man who is improving the 
fertility of those farms, to make them productive, and you will 
find he is improving them by the industry of dairying. It is true 
on high priced and on low priced land. Why? Because the cow 
will take the product of your farm and convert it into more dollars, 
carrying a larger percentage of profit than any other animal that 
walks on four legs. She has done it in the past and will do it in 
the future. 

As one of the speakers said, there are certain essentials that 
must be observed on the farm. First, you must have a good 
cow. There are in the State of Louisiana, as well as in every 
state, three kinds of cows. One kind of cow takes her feed and 
digests it, and under the law of her nature she converts that into 
beef. That is a beef cow. It doesn't make any difference whether 
she is Hereford, or Shorthorn or Angus. If she converts that 
into flesh she is a beef cow. Another kind takes her feed and 
assimilates it, and because of the law of her nature she converts 
that into milk. That is a dairy cow; and it doesn't make any 
difference what breed or color she is; if by the law of her na- 
ture she converts that into milk, she is a dairy cow. Another 
kind of cow takes her feed, and God only knows what she does 
with it — she neither makes meat nor milk with it. (Applause.) 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 181 



I want to say to you gentlemen just remember that little 
message from the men of the North — too many of you fellows are 
spending your lives growing that cow that is in the third class. 
She should be got rid of. You are keeping too many cows that 
came too near to being born steers. (Laughter.) 

I promised I wouldn't talk over ten minutes ; I have two 
minutes more. As I said, I am President of the National Dairy- 
Union. It was organized especially to protect the good cow and 
the product of that cow from vicious and unfair competition of 
the socalled substitute, oleomargarine. I just want to drop 
this little word to you before I leave. In our work in Washing- 
ton we found that the Congressmen and Senators from the South 
are usually against us and with the oleomargarine fellows. I 
just want to say this to you : I want to ask why your represen- 
tatives are against the dairy cow and honest dairy products ; why 
your men say that the man who manufactures oleomargarine is Oleomargar- 
just as good and has just as good a right as we have. Let me '^^ « Menace 
ask you why it is that a man colors butter? To make it look 
exactly like what it is. Why does a man color oleomargarine? 
To make it look like what it is not, and so that he may sell it at 
the price of butter, which it is not. You are getting swindled both 
ways. I want you to think about that, and stand with us of the North 
to protect the cow. Probably you have several million dollars that 
you want to buy oleomargarine with. Instead of doing that, go into 
the dairy business ; feed out your own cottonseed meal, and your 
velvet bean and other products that you grow ; return the ferti- 
lizer to your farm, which will enable you to have better farms 
as the years go by. You will find that that good old cow will do 
more for you than any other animal that ever walked on four 
legs. I thank you. (Applause.) 



to Dairying 



182 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Early Work 
in Tick Erad- 
ication 



Popular 

Approval 

Necessary 



Tick Eradication 

By Dr. E. I. Smith 

Inspector in Charge Bureau of Animal Industry, 

United States Department of Agriculture, 

Baton Rouge, La. 

In taking up the subject of "Tick Eradication," I will briefly 
outline the history in the State. In 1906 the State of Louisiana 
began its first work in tick eradication. At that time there were 
two Parishes which started work along such lines ; that is, Lincoln 
and Claiborne, and it is believed that they commenced operations 
largely because the State and Government urged them for the 
purpose of seeing what could be done in Louisiana ; and if the 
results were satisfactory it might have a tendency to encourage 
the other Parishes to do likewise. After a few months Lincoln 
Parish decided to withdraw her co-operation on account of so 
much opposition developing in her borders ; Init Claiborne Parish 
continued until 1912, when they were released from quarantine. 
For some reason or other Claiborne Parish did not furnish the 
proper co-operation, and the State and Bureau ofificials bore 
most of the expenses, and, as a result, when the Parish was 
released they failed to appreciate the advantage of taking care 
of the local infestation left in the Parish and enforcing the law 
when necessary. In this connection, I regret to state that they 
were placed back in quarantine the first day of March, 1917, with 
the same status relative to the cattle tick as any quarantined 
Parish in the State. 

This vividly illustrates one prominent point : Notably, any 
Parish or County in any State which starts tick eradication with- 
out the co-operation of the people is an absolute failure. In such 
cases more harm will result than good, because people believe 
that the officials higher up are endeavoring to make them do 
something which is not for their interest. 

This year we had a few Parishes that were very anxious 
to commence systematic tick eradication, and the Police Jury 
called us into conference, asking our advice, and at the same time 
stating how many vats they had, and in what position they were 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 183 

financially. After taking- into consideration their financial con- 
dition, and the small number of vats in operation, we plainly said 
to them, "Gentlemen, you are not ready to commence active 
work in tick eradication ; you have not the sufficient number of 
dipping vats, and your financial condition is not in a shape to 
allow you to fully do-operate throughout the season. You 
should wait until you have the last number of vats completed, 
and sufficient money so that you will be able to work for the 
best interest of the Parish, for the purpose of securing the best 
result. It would be folly for us to attempt to co-operate with 
you at this time, as it would waste both Government and State 
funds." 

Last year we worked systematically in eight Parishes, and 
this year we are working in the same manner in nineteen 
Parishes, and it is our fondest hopes that these Parishes will 
be released from quarantine this fall. They are giving excellent 
co-operation and the people, as a whole, are lending their splendid 
influence to the work and doing all in their power to see that 
the cattle tick is completely eradicated. 

Last year the State Legislature passed a law which pro-' 
vided that tick eradication must be taken up over the entire 
State not later than the spring of 1918. Mississippi, Arkansas 
and Texas have also passed State-wide tick eradication laws. 
His excellency, the Governor of Arkansas, told you yesterday 
that they had vigorously legislated against the "Tick." Such 
action means that within the next three or four years there will 
be no cattle ticks in the States which are taking such strenuous 
action against the tick, or, if there are any in existence, it means 
that they will be located and absolutely under control. The tick "The Tick 
must go. History has taught us that it does not belong in this Must Go" 
country. It was first brought from Spain to old Mexico, and 
from there it has rapidly spread over the southern states ; par- 
ticularly, where the climatic conditions would best permit its 
multiplication. It is the southern people, with their splendid 
co-operation, who have decided that the tick is a nuisance ; 
and they have further arrived at the conclusion that it is not 
only a misfortune but a disgrace to allow such an infernal para- 
site to destroy such a possibility of greater cattle raising in the 
South. It is possible to hinder tick eradication, and it is also 
possible to set it back a little ; but, gentlemen, it is absolutely 
impossible to completely stop tick eradication. In other words. 



184 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Opposition 
Fast Disap- 
pearing 



it is a road-roller. Last year our records show that we had 
1,516,000 dippings of cattle in the State of Louisiana under 
supervision. That, you will see, is working a hardship on the 
ticks when you have over one and a half million dippings in eight 
Parishes in one season. You will readily see what the final 
results will be this year, we are going much over that, as our 
territory is larger and the work will be more extensive. In this 
connection I beg to state that last year we dipped the cattle 
every twenty-one days, which did not give us the satisfactory 
results desired. This year the Live Stock Sanitary Board have 
decided that all new Parishes engaged in the work of systematic 
tick eradication must dip their cattle every fourteen days. This 
action will prove two-fold ; that is, it will mean the eradication 
of the tick in one season in any Parish, provided the people 
co-operate, and, as a result, will conserve the Parish, State, and 
Government funds. So far the people are taking very kindly 
to the fourteen day dipping, and we anticipate very little trouble 
in carrying out such procedure this year. 

In 1906 the Federal Government started tick eradication and 
at that time they didn't have any dipping vats and I don't sup- 
pose there was a dipping vat in existence. All disinfection of 
cattle was done by the greasing method with a stick and a 
swab saturated with grease and they were able to place a little of 
such solution on each animal. In this connection, you can 
imagine what kind of a job that would be if we had to grease 
a million and a half cattle in one season. It would take more 
than one season to do it, and when we get through the results 
would not be satisfactory. Of course, by this method various 
states succeeded in eradicating large areas from the ravages of 
the cattle tick, but such areas were located mostly in counties 
where one could quite easily find the cattle, but, if you under- 
took such a piece of work in many sections on this Cut-Over 
Timber Land, we would meet with nothing] but failure. The 
people at that time, along in 1906, 1907, 1908, didn't know much 
about tick eradication, consequently they were very skeptical. 
The question was frequently asked, "Could it be done?" And, 
of course, there were certain classes that were quick to answer 
"No," with the explanation that we had ticks on every animal, 
both wild and domestic, and it would be impossible to maintain 
a quarantine over the wild animals. Today, the people look 
upon the matter in a very much different viewpoint, and the 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 185 

question they are now asking to the State and Bureau officials is : 
"When can you send a trained man here to supervise tick 
eradication in our locality?" Such requests are coming in al- 
ready, at such a rate that we are unable to furnish supervisors at 
once to every Parish and County ready to work. 

Next year the new state-wide Tick Eradication Law for 
Louisiana goes into effect, which means that this State will be 
a leader in the complete elimination of the cattle tick. When the 
State Legislature passed the law they very unwisely, for some 
reason or other, perhaps on account of shortage of finances, did 
not provide a sufficient amount of money to carry out the work- 
ing of the law. The Governor of Arkansas told you yesterday More Money 
that they had appropriated $50,000 in their State to wage war ^^^^ed to 
against the cattle tick. This State hasn't but about $10,000 to ti/q^^ 
do what they expect to do with $50,000. If the people of Louis- 
iana are enthusiastic enough to pass a state-wide law for the 
eradication of the cattle tick, they should go before the Legis- 
lative Committee on Finance and demand that the proper ap- 
propriation be made. Other Southern States engaged in this 
work are furnishing large sums to meet all the demands of the 
work. Many Parishes in this State are carrying on tick eradi- 
cation with their own funds without any assistance from the 
State. One Parish, particularly, in this State has built some- 
thing like fifty public dipping vats within the last thirty days, 
and the State is unable to contribute one dollar towards such 
progress. A great many Parishes in Louisiana have been unable 
to do systematic tick eradication this season because they did 
not have the funds, and in this connection I believe there should 
have been some organization, perhaps financed by lumber in- 
terests, that could furnish each Parish with a sufficient amount 
of money to enable them to commence active operation. I be- 
lieve, Mr. Chairman, that this would be a very co-operative 
movement as it would help the Parish in question, and the 
money so loaned would be drawing a reasonable rate of interest. 
I have in mind one Parish in the northern part of the State where 
the Police Jury were willing to co-operate with the State and 
Bureau force for the purpose of eliminating the cattle tick, but 
they were absolutely unable to borrow money to conduct the 
work, and in this connection it is reasonable to believe that the 
law permitted them to borrow money, otherwise they would not 
endeavor to carry out such a program ; besides, it is further evi- 



186 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

dent that their credit was good. They had the disposition and 
the desire to work with us, but they didn't have the money, and 
if there had been some organization in this State that could have 
furnished them the money at a reasonable rate of interest they 
would have been working systematically at this time and un- 
doubtedly be in a position to be added to the free area this fall. 

One gentleman this morning struck the keynote, I believe, 
on this cut-over timber land proposition, when he said that these 
lands ought to be fenced. Such lands are raising cattle for 
people who do not own an acre of land. They own the cattle 
and, apparently, depend upon charity for the privilege of grazing 
them, and when you talk to such individuals about dipping their, 
cattle they are inclined to develop opposition. Those are just 
the menacing conditions that exist over the cut-over timber land 
territory, and, you know, a menace located here and there may 
seriously interfere with a great organized effort. These people 
have no business to raise cattle, graze them on somebody else's 
property, and then keep up an opposition against a great piece 
The Evil of of constructive work like tick eradication. If these lands in such 
the Open sections in the South were fenced we would expect no opposi- 

^"^*^ tion from the individuals who were using such lands, and it 

would also prevent, from a certain extent, the destruction of a 
number of dipping vats which has been going on within the last 
few months. A number of them have been dynamited in this 
State — I think about twelve or fifteen — and an equal number in 
Mississippi. Dynamiting, of course, is very destructive, and 
undesirable in such instances. But, after all, it is a large adver- 
tising factor, because it starts the people talking about something 
they never gave serious attention to before ; that is, it separates 
the good fair-minded class from the criminal element to such -an 
extent that the better class condemns such lowdown principles 
as the destruction of public property. 

The cut-over timber lands are indeed great. Only day be- 
fore yesterday I was riding through Washington Parish, which, 
of course, gave me the opportunity to observe carefully the cut- 
over timber land section, and as one rides through such country 
he cannot help from being impressed with the better appearance 
of the country. Theland is of a rolling nature, well watered and 
dotted here and there with little dense forests which can be con- 
trolled or allowed to spread. The character of the soil appears 
to be equal to the average and as Doctor Dodson told you this 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 187 

morning the expression "poor land" has no place in our vocabu- 
lary, and does not mean anything. I think, if some of these lands 
could be fenced in, cattle put on them in charge of competent 
herdsmen under the supervision of lumber corporations there 
would be great rewards gained, not only in a financial way but 

as an advertising medium. I know right now where there are ^^'"^ Sent to 

■ ■ ■ Other States 

over 6,000 head of cattle going out of this State within the next , r. .. • 

' * *= for Fattening 

thirty days to Texas. It appears to me that they could be used 
to an excellent advantage on some of our cut-over timber lands 
in Louisiana. It would be a great advantage and I think an 
excellent investment to try and do something like that, partic- 
ularly at this time of the year when the grasses are excellent. 
So, gentlemen, if there is anything you can do along the line 
just indicated, do it. 

Another speaker said this should be observed from a mili- 
tary standpoint ; that is, preparedness in the way of raising more 
food products. We may need preparedness today, but we will 
need it a year from today just as much, if not more. Conse- 
quently, it is never too late to get ready. Any effort, by any 
organization, in the way of financing this cause would make you 
gainers in the end. The State of Louisiana, we hope, will be ^00,000 
free from the dreaded cattle tick within the next three or four . , 

rvr> r^r\ '" LoillSianO 

years. In the outset there has been released over 300,000 square Released from 
miles, which represents nearly one-half of the territory quaran- Quarantine 
tined on account of the existence of the cattle tick. That, I 
think, is a very good record. It has been accomplished through 
the splendid co-operation of the Southern people, who have spent 
two dollars in this cause for every dollar spent by our United 
States Government. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the time 
you have given me. (Applause.) 



188 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Stumps and T\\^iY Practical 
Removal 

By Carl D. Livingston 

University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 

I had prepared a talk before this Conference on the sub- 
ject of "Stumps and Their Practical Removal," but after listen- 
ing to every word that has been said here at this Conference for 
the last two and a half days I have decided to change it, and 
instead of talking in technicalities to tell you, first — or rather to 
analyze the land clearing situation roughly from an engineering 
point of view ; second, to show just how we tackled this problem 
in Wisconsin and the good results we got from it; and third, to 
suggest, if I may, how the Southern states can profit by our ex- 
periences and our mistakes. 

The modern engineering methods and modern engineering 
tools have not been given as much importance in the subject of 
clearing lands as they should be. Modern engineering practices 
will play a very important part in the development of our cut- 
over land regions ; but I would like to make a statement right 
x/jm/nenfs ^^^ ^j^^^ ^^ forestall some criticism. What I will say in re- 
the South May , , , . , • , . , 

Profit Bii gard to cut-over lands is due entirely to an experience in the 

Lake states and on the Pacific Coast. I don't say that the novel 
methods that we have worked out in Wisconsin can be wholly 
adopted by the South ; but I do believe the methods of investiga- 
tion and demonstration that we have been using are of interest 
to you. 

Now, stump lands — I believe it will be generally admitted 
by those, especially, who own them, that they are not generally 
sought after by those people who desire new homes in cut-over 
lands. Now, why is this the case? The answer is easy — it is the 
stumps. It is the fear of the stumps that keeps people from the 
cut-over lands. If there were no stumps the Lake states or the 
Pacific Coast or the South would have no more of a development 
problem than do Illinois or Iowa. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 189 

Why are people afraid of the stumps? Is it not because the 
methods used have been so cumbersome and the tools so primi- Drudgery of 
tive and used for so many generations that the people, gener- Stump Re- 
ally, have gotten the idea that making a home in cut-over lands ^"^ua/ tnaea 
means long, slow years of laborious back-breaking toil? Now, 
is not that the case? 

The reclaiming of Western lands by irrigation is just as 
hard ; it is almost as slow ; it is practically as costly in leveling 
them and getting irrigation in ; but the people generally do not 
recognize that fact ; it has not been given the publicity which 
cut-over land has ; and, therefore, people going out into a new* 
country will go to those places in preference to the cut-over 
land area. Even the artists recognize that clearing land is hard, 
laborious work. In the National Library, at Washington, there 
are seven or eight semi-circular paintings in the ceiling that 
depict various home scenes — religion, art, etc. — and the artist 
for labor has shown a picture of a man with a grub hoe, trying 
to grub out a fairly sized stump, and if that isn't labor I don't 
know what is. Such things no longer exist in land clearing, but, 
like a lot of other fears and superstitions, it will take some real 
education and rural demonstration before those ideas can be rid 
of in the minds of the people who are coming in and who already 
are in these cut-over lands. 

We have shown in Wisconsin that we can reduce the cost, 
reduce the time and reduce the drudgery of land clearing, and 
we feel that just in the proportion that we have done those 
things, we have made the cut-over lands popular and desirable. 

An organized effort, directed along engineering lines, will do 
a great deal to demonstrate to the people that such is the case, ^^^^^ Wiscon- 
and a clearing house where all this information can be gathered ^j„ Began 
together, inspected, and, if found good, given publicity ; and if Organized 
found bad, condemned ; if such an institution can be formed, a Efforts 
clearing house, it will have more value than any other one thing, 
in my opinion, that can happen to the cut-over lands. 

As evidence of these statements, I wish to offer the work of 
the Department of Agricultural Engineering at the University 
of Wisconsin. A year and a half ago a special branch was or- 
ganized, the sole purpose of which was to deal with problems 
connected with clearing cut-over lands. Previous to that there 
was no exclusive agency in the Lake states where any man could 



190 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

get any land clearing information of value. The new fellows 
coming into Wisconsin — there are five thousand a year — those 
new fellows had no place to go where they could get any reliable 
information on land clearing subjects. It was something like 
the Dark Ages before arriving at the common method of pre- 
serving ideas. Already we have in Wisconsin, this spring, great- 
er activities than they have ever had heretofore ; and that, we 
believe, in a measure, is a direct result of our work and the work 
that we caused to be swung into line. 

We gathered from all parts of the country the different ap- 
pliances men have used — a piler from Georgia, a hand puller 
here, a steam rigger from the Pacific Coast, a side trip from 
Minnesota ; and if they are any good we say so, and if they are 
bad we say so. 

As specific illustrations of what we have done in the way of 

being a clearing house, I have brought these models along, and 

will take a few minutes to show them to you as a specific illus- 

Free Informa- tration that there are scattered throughout the country and the 

tion Service whole earth a lot of perfectly good ideas, such as these, which 

for ths 

P men have worked, that have helped them to solve their individual 

problems ; and those little ideas have remained right in their 

communities and have never been given any publicity at all. 

(A demonstration of the models.) 

The way we get those before the public : We make blue- 
prints of them and these can be had for a small price. We sent 
them out free of charge for a while, until we began to get blanket 
orders for six copies of each one. 

The materials that we have perfected ourselves, we do not 
patent; but we fix it so no one else can obtain it for private gain. 
They can use it, but not patent it. 

Our largest single effort was to conduct two land clearing 
demonstration trains over the northern part of the state. This 
was a co-operative enterprise on the part of the railroads, who 
furnished the cars and carried them all over their line free of 
charge ; the stump puller people, who gave us their men and 
paid their expenses ; the explosive companies paid their part of 
it and furnished the explosives; the man on whose farm w€ 
stopped furnished the teams ; and the merchant usually gave a 
free lunch or some other attraction. Each train had eight cars 
in it. We carried a crew of eighteen men. We did the actual 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 191 



Land Clear- 
ing Trains 



work in the field. We divided up an area and put a different 
kind in each tract and then sent the various different kinds of 
equipment on the stumps. We didn't advocate any method of 
clearing. We just showed what dynamite and stump pullers 
would do alone and in connection with each other. In the even- 
ing we held meetings with the townspeople and with the farm- 
ers, in an endeavor to get them to talk about their problems and Demonstrate 
their individual problems, and what they could do themselves for Work 
their own salvation. Some of the specific things we accom- 
plished were these : We gave a decided interest to the general 
land clearing men. We speeded up the work and helped to re- 
duce the cost and remove the drudgery, and instituted, or en- 
couraged, a follow-up system which is showing results this year 
as never before. 

I might enlarge upon these points. As far as impetus is 
concerned, the whole country seems to be talking about stumps 
now and their practical removal. The boys are holding debates 
on it in the high schools and forming small clubs and associa- 
tions of that nature. The 20,000 people who saw those demon- 
strations were enthusiastic over the things they saw. Rural 
credits have been greatly stimulated, and now the bankers are 
willing to co-operate with the farmers as they have never done 
before, in loaning them money for land clearing purposes. They j^^^^j^g Loan 
realize that when he tackles a job of that kind, that bank cannot Money for 
make a better investment than to furnish him the means of stay- Farm Im- 
ing on his land and clearing it himself. I merely want to cite provement 
one instance of this kind. One of the bank officials said to us 
he wouldn't have a stick of dynamite on his land ; "the only 
thing I use that for is to blow up the posters you furnish." Well, 
after a demonstration, here is what he came out with : (Show- 
ing a poster) "Farmers, let us help you clear your land," and 
they gave four instances where they will lend money : One, for 
fencing timber or land ; two, for buying stock, dairy or beef ; 
three, for developing silage or forage ; four, for stumping your 
land. 

Land has always been cleared too slow for rapid develop- 
ment, and that is one of the things we tried to show — to increase 
the speed. We wrote that if a man didn't have a team, that a 
one-man stump puller would do the work. Horse pullers are 
even better than the one-man pullers, because it takes so much 
power to pull a stump from the soil and your back has to be 



192 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

multiplied so many times that it makes it slower. The horse 

stump pullers are equipped with accessories so that you can 

^ , • rj move from one place to another rapidly. These things speed the 

of Dynamite work up two, three and four times as fast, compared to the old 

methods. 



The high cost of stump removal has been a very serious 
anchor to the progress of developing cut-over lands. We were 
able to show that where the people had been using 40 and 60 per 
cent dynamite, we could do absolutely as good work, stick for 
stick, with 20 or 30 per cent, and this has resulted in a saving of 
from 2y2 to 6 cents per pound. The lower grades dynamite are 
safer than the higher grades, too, and they do better work. They 
do less cutting and are less shattering in their effect. 

We have heard about this 76 million acres in the South. If 

there were in the neighborhood of fifty stumps per acre, there 

would be something in the neighborhood of four billion stumps 

Four Billion j^ ^j^^ South to be cleared. Now, I say, if that was done with 

Stumps to Be , . , , , • Ar^ ^ j u ^u 

Cleared in dynamite, and you have been usmg 40 per cent, and by the use 

South of 20 per cent you could save 2>4 cents a pound, that would be 

a tremendous saving. I rrierely cite that as an instance where 
we were able to save the people of Wisconsin many dollars in 
the use of this low grade product that would do the same work. 

Dollars are the controlling factor in land clearing, because 
a man will buy dynamite with all the money he can save. If, 
by any system, we can make this dynamite two, three or four 
times safer then he will clear two, three or four times as much 
land with the same expenditure ; and with the combination of 
stump puller, pulling the stump first, and then cracking it — and 
one-third as much dynamite is required to crack a stump as to 
blow it entirely ; that means that the man, with his combination 
method and proper equipment, can clear from three to five times 
as much land with the same actual cash expenditure. 

The tremendous human energy that has been wasted in land 

clearing is something appalling. What we have accomplished, 

,, . . .if we have done nothing else, is to almost eliminate the drudgery 

Macliines and , , , , . , . 

Horses Now from land cleanng. I don t say the work ; there is nothing on 

Do tlie WorI< earth that will enable you to get rid of stumps without work ; 

but it is not that slow, back-breaking, monotonous toil. The 

outfit weighs about thirty pounds ; a man can take that to a 

stump ; that is not drudgery. He stands still while the horses 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era UK) 

pull the stump from the gTound. It is not drudgery to work 
with the dynamite he uses ; and it is not drudgery to pile the 
stumps. It has all passed from the man's back to machines and 
horses, and wherever we have been able to show we have re- 
moved the drudgery we have made the cut-over lands popular. 
To use a specific instance : On one demonstration a man came 
from Iowa to buy land, and he came to the demonstration and 
I heard him tell the man whoi had him in tow that if these men 
could clear land with as little back work as that, I can, too ; and 
he bought 450 acres of land at $25 an acre. 

We don't try to pull green material. From our experience 

we find it will cost three times as much to clear green land as 

after four or five years. Put stock on it. Work it and seed it 

with whatever it grows best, and then put it to sheep and cattle, Deaden 

or to dairying. Goats are all right ; they are the best browsers ^'"^P* ^^' 
, 1 -r 1 -1 11 • 1 , ,- fore Removal 

there are; and if you have a wide range, all ng^ht; but if you 

have it fenced you will have to put in a 38-wove wire fence and 

barbed wire or they will cut it. 

As to the follow-up work : It was apparent that if we ad- 
vocated an equipment that would take $200 to buy, it was plumb 
out of the realm of a great many of those settlers ; if we could 
form a small society of three, four or five men — not more than 
five — and arrange for the purchase of such equipment as we 
would advise, that would reduce the cost to about $40 apiece. 
Then we went to the banks and said, "These men want to get 
an outfit of this kind ; they can probably clear five times as 
much land with this equipment as with their older devices" ; and 
in every case the banks said they were willing to loan money 
up to half of that equipment, and three-fourths of the banks 
said they would loan all the money. 

The Wisconsin Advancement Association, a group of men 
who have pooled their interests and paid 1 cent an acre for the 
advancement of those lands, organized a campaign for the pur- 
chase of stump pullers and explosives. Forty per cent dynamite Co-operative 
had been retailing in the neighborhood of 17 or 18 cents. They Association 

117 7 * 117 * 

proposed to put in in carload lots. They have now, together ^^ . '"" "' 
with the aid of the explosive company, been able to put in 
twenty carloads where there had been only cases sold before. 
In every case where one of these carloads were going in there 
had been only three or four hundred pounds sold during- the en- 



194 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Farms Noiv 
Cleared in 
Few Years 



tire year. Just think what that means. If they can get a com- 
munity that will purchase five of these stump pullers they can 
get it down to $112 or $150 instead of $175. One of the land 
companies there just issued this pamphlet, which came in my 
last mail before leaving. In it they describe a clearing method 
which they are employing for every five thousand acre unit that 
they subdivide. They are setting aside a sum of $7,500 to be 
used in the purchase of land-clearing equipment ; and all that, of 
course, goes over to their purchasers. Another man has already 
organized several crews — he has thirty competitive crews — he 
has a very large area, and these men are working in a competi- 
tive contest, and at the end of the season prizes will be given 
them. This greatly stimulates the manufacture and the dis- 
covery of a great many devices that would not otherwise be used. 

Now, don't get the impression that we preach any Utopian 
scheme in Wisconsin, where we have some way of getting the 
stumps out without work ; but we have been able to show how 
the cost of clearing land has been materially reduced, so that 
now a man, instead of spending a lifetime, can clear up his farm 
in a few years ; and we have practically removed the drudgery 
from land-clearing work; and we have made the cut-over lands 
popular in just the proportion which we have done these things. 

I might just take a moment to explain what our future pro- 
gram is. We have been able to promote a great deal of interest 
in the land-clearing movement, but we have to find out some 
more before we can carry our demonstration further; and so 
there is a bill in the Legislature for $37,000, which is asked to 
be spent over a period of two years in conducting further demon- 
stration trains. Our plan is to lay off areas on various soil types 
of twenty acres ; develop those and keep track of the methods 
that are used, and the time and hours of man labor and the hours 
of horse labor and the pounds of dynamite. If we can do all 
that we will then know which is the best way to clear land in the 
Lake states, and have a good idea for other people to follow. 

I don't know whether or not the conditions we have, or the 
methods we have developed, will be of individual value to you ; 
but I do believe that if you follow some of the things we have 
done you can expect to get some of the results we have accom- 
plished. We have been working for the little fellow because 
there are some 50,000 of them already there. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 195 

Now, as to the suggestions I have to offer, if I may : One 
is that, first of all, you establish an office similar to the one we 
have established. I might say that Michigan, Minnesota and 
Washington are establishing ofltices along the same line. There 
surely are in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the other states 
devices and information such as we have here, that will help 
your men, help your people in just the ratio they have helped 
ours. The first thing that ought to be done is to form a clear- 
ing house, where this information can be gathered together, and, 
if good, passed on. The second — and I might say that this can Suggests Cen- 
best be established with your various Departments of Agriculture ^, Informa- 
and with your colleges, because the colleges are able to get more jj^^g^ ff.j. 
from the manufacturer by way of co-operation than almost any South 
other single agency — the second would be to use your influence 
to provide proper funds for this work to be carried on. Next, 
start in with the collective demonstration, showing what is good 
and bad practice. You will know, then, what you will want to 
do with the investigations end. Try to co-operate, in all ways, 
with the banks, the railroads, the manufacturers of dynamite and 
the stump puller people. In that way you will get so many 
people together that the movement will be given so much mo- 
mentum that nothing will stop it. 

M'ay I say just one word further? This is a little emergency 
poster No. 1 (indicating) that was published by the Wisconsin 
College of Agriculture, as a result of the demand for more food. 
We have begun to get results from this already; and I have one 
or two copies here in case anyone would like to see them. I also 
have one or two extra copies of our land-clearing poster. We 
have published a report of our land-clearing demonstration 
which we will be glad to send to any who care to have it ; and 
we have in the press a land-clearing bulletin which is composed 
mainly of pictures. We feel that if we can depict land-clearing 
conditions and methods by pictures, that others can read the pic- 
tures whether they can read the English language or not. I 
thank you. (Applause.) 



196 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

The Sheep Industry of the 

South 

By F. R. Marshall 

Senior Animal Husbandman Bureau of Animal 

Industry, United States Department of 

Agriculture 

Mr. Chairman, after this discussion I am in somewhat an 
embarrassing position, but I believe I am complying with the 
will of the majority, and will undertake to say, very briefly, some 
of the main essentials of sheep raising. 

My subject permits me to cover the entire South, but I 

shall not endeavor to do so. I have been interested in listening 

Importance of ^^ ^^^ discussions; and I take it that now we have cleared the 

Sheep liaising ^ ff ^}^ j^^^j ^^ surveyed the soil ; we have established 

m the South ^ -^ • , V i , i i u 

pastures, and we have eradicated the ticks ; I don t know whether 

to say we have established demonstration farms, but we have 
debated it. 

You don't need to do all that before you talk about going 
into the sheep business. You could have done that without 
much of the other, but up to this time, I presume, the sheep 
business has seemed to you a rather minor and secondary matter ; 
but if you will acquaint yourselves with the facts in that con- 
nection and with the methods of utilization of these lands, I be- 
lieve you will no longer agree that the sheep industry is a second- 
ary proposition. 
■■ I jwill explain to you the reasons for those views. In what I 

propose to outline briefly, I take it to be the consensus of opinion 
of this conference that at least a large part of these cut-over lands 
must, for some considerable time, at least, be used for grazing 
purposes. I don't know how much or how long. When you come 
to consider a grazing proposition, you have sheep and cattle 
mainly to think about. 

The thing that has impressed me most in this connection, 
and in {he conservative constructive thinking along this line, is 
a statement made by a gentleman that after he studied the means 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 197 

of utilizing his lands, he came to the point where he did not want 
to dispose of them. 

The possibilities and opportunities in sheep raising are much 
less well understood than in cattle raising. There have been a 
good many reasons for that up to this date. Those reasons no 
longer exist. During the last five years, or two years, the sheep 
business of this country has come in on an entirely new basis. 
For your guidance in the future you don't have to study the 
history of the question at all. 

The reasons for saying you don't have to study the history 
of the sheep business are briefly these : Up to this time the 
sheep of the world have been kept on the new lands, where 
they could go into the sheep business without preparation, and 
because in many cases they would produce and carry nothing ^orld Scare- 
hut sheep. That has been the case in our western states, Aus- ity of Sheep 
tralia, South America and Africa and other countries. In those ond Wool 
areas, however, those conditions have passed. Those grazing 
lands are being used for other purposes. Ultimately, no doubt, 
they will carry larger numbers of cattle and sheep than they 
carried when used for pasture purposes. In the meantime, there 
is a very serious shortage of sheep meat and wool the world over. 

Those conditions are disappearing and, as a consequence, the 
prices of sheep products, especially, have gone up. We face 
today a condition where lambs are worth 15 cents a pound on 
the hoof. When you consider it is a safe proposition to put a 
lamb on the market at 70 pounds, you will understand some- 
thing of its possibilities. At the same time it is hard to say, 
without having seen the market reports of the hour, what the 
prices of wool are. They are very high, but largely because of 
conditions that were in evidence before and will exist after the 
war. 

This passing of the pasturage parts of the country has 
been particularly noticeable in our western states during the last 
three or four years, and is going further. We still have in the 
public domain, as stated by the Commissioner of the Land Office, 
something like 280 or 290 million acres of land which has been 
used by the stockmen of this country for both sheep and cattle 
grazing; and as to a comparison of the possibilities between sheep 
and cattle let me make this statement : that with present values 
and circumstances, and the adaptability of the country, it is a 



198 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Em 



America Im- 
porting Vast 
Quantities of 
Wool 



Cut-Over 
Lands Ideal 
For Sheep 
Raising 



pretty narrow choice, and it is mainly a matter of taste as to 
whether the man takes sheep or cattle for pasturage. 

Those lands are being taken up very rapidly, and during the 
last few months, especially, there have been something like 45,- 

000 applications for those grazing homesteads. It is altogether 
probable that ultimately again a large part of those lands will 
carry more stock than they have now ; but I do believe it is 
more certain that for a considerable time they will carry much 
less stock — ^they will ship eastward much less cattle and wool 
than for some time past. Taking in connection with that fact the 
further fact that other countries are in the same position ; and 
still further the fact that this country manufactured, during the 
year ending June 30th last, over 800 million pounds of wool. 
While we manufactured that we grew less than 300 million 
pounds. The rest came from the countries mentioned. The 
consumption in other countries is increasing; the production is 
decreasing; and we are up against a serious proposition. There 
is room to dilate as much as one may wish upon the patriotic 
phase of the question ; but I submit it to you only as a business 
proposition, to help meet the demand for an increase of the sheep 
population somewhere in this country. 

The cut-over lands of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin 
are well adapted to put sheep on them. This increase of lambs 
and wool, which must be had, can only come from two sources. 
The one we have been thinking of most heretofore is that of the 
farms of both this country and other countries. The sheep busi- 
ness will increase very materially there, but it will be a slow 
increase and it will have to be along lines yet to be worked out. 
Outside of the countries not ready for the business, I do not 
believe there is any section which is so ready to go quickly into 
a considerable wool or lamb proposition as the cut-over lands. 
With the opportunities you have, of relatively low production, 

1 only wish to submit to you that the sheep business, for those 
who will understand it and study it from a business standpoint. 
is thoroughly safe and practicable. 

I am not going to renew, or take part, in any debate as to 
just how you will get the information other than to say that if 
anything has been done by disinterested parties in this part of the 
country to show the possibilities of keeping sheep, I very much 
regret to say that it has not come to my attention. The nearest 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 199 



we can come to getting a line on it or a parallel case is found 
in New Zealand. That is too far away to interest you fully, but 
I want to call your attention to the fact that there is in New 
Zealand a set of conditions that compares closely with those of 
the cut-over lands. The soil compares very closely in kind and 
the climate and rainfall are the same. Through the pressure 
of circumstances those people residing in that country have 
taken up the live stock proposition and provided pastures that 
will support live stock all through the year. Where they have 
worked that pasture proposition out and studied the live stock 
business, they have found that their lands were paying dividends 
on their valuation equivalent to $200 an acre. Only there, that 
I know of, can you go to find a demonstrated proposition as to 
sheep raising, that will show you the actual net expense and 
possible receipts on an acre of pasture ; and you must also con- 
sider that in building up that system they have been under the 
handicap of marketing their product five thousand miles away. 

Just to what extent and in what way the sheep proposition 
can be taken -up, I am not ready to state in any detail as yet. It 
will have to follow the same general lines I have mentioned. 
First, however, as with cattle, the natural or artificial pasture is 
the primary consideration. The sheep differ particularly from Sheep Thrive 
the cattle in this way, that a good marketable carcass of lamb can ^Vithout 
be raised under pasture conditions without the use of any 
material amount of grain. It is possible to produce a useful and 
salable carcass of lamb without grain at all. Grain is not essen- 
tial to the production of wool, so that with sheep you can have 
two finished products from pasture alone. 

Sheep will not thrive under conditions where their feet are 
continually wet. If it is continually wet or swampy, you will 
have trouble. They will eat a greater variety of plants than 
cattle, but if your main object is to clean up brush you can do 
it with goats and you will have a very satisfactory job. 

Getting down to the possible advantages of sheep in com- 
parison with cattle on this land, you have to consider that the 
tick proposition is not serious with sheep. The authorities have 
stated that the sheep are in no way concerned with tick. While 
sheep have no ticks, however, they have their own peculiar 
troubles, which are less serious in some ways and can be avoided. 
The main factor in the trouble of sheep health is that which con- 
cerns itself with stomach parasites. There are thoroughly prac- 



Grnin Food 



200 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



tical systems of controlling- and preventing the troubles from that 
source. One of the systems is to give sheep a sufficiently wide 
range. Another way is to use the sheep on pastures while the 
cattle are not there. I said I woiild not endeavor to outline a 
detailed system of the proper methods of handling sheep, but 
whatever system can be safely attempted early in the game will 
necessarily be somewhat along these lines. 

I will say that sheep can be used on the same ground with 
cattle, to the advantage of both. I know some of you that have 
traveled in the West and have read the old-time stories have recol- 
lections of the bloodshed in those western countries due to the 
feuds between cattle and sheep men, and you will find that a 
<j, K large proportion of them have been over the possession of the 

Cattle Raising ground. The solution of the whole question has been found, and 
it is this : When sheep and cattle belong to opposite and oppos- 
ing owners, their sheep do hurt the pastures ; but when the same 
man owns both, they get along very well to the advantage of 
both. 

I don't believe you are likely to make a success in the pre- 
liminary stage if you take up sheep raising as a side line. It 
can be done with small units, but not with the size of pastures 
you are operating with. Sheep are peculiar to people who have 
never studied them ; but there is nothing about their health, 
management or breeding that intelligent study cannot master. 
Outside of the fencing proposition and alternating with cattle, 
I think the system that has the most immediate possibilities is 
that of the straight western ranching proposition ; and I believe 
that some of the men being crowded out of their holdings in 
Wyoming and Montana could be interested in these lands to the 
extent of making a fair try of the proposition. If you will do 
as those men do you will need a unit of a thousand ewes, and 
possibly up to 1,500, but hardly less than a thousand, with a 
herder with them day and night. That helps to take care of the 
dog proposition and gives them proper care. That western 
herder is with the band all the time. He does not stay in one 
place all the time, but keeps them moving around. He works 
them that way and he is on watch all the time. By keeping them 
on the move the danger of parasitic infection is mainly avoided. 
Of course, that involves some expense ; and the kind of business 
that calls for it is one which keeps sheep both for lambs and 
wool. That plan may seem at first to contrast rather poorly 



Ranchmen, 
Crowded in 
West, Now 
Ready to 
Come Soutli 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 201 

with existing" Southern flocks having anywhere from eight to 
twenty thousand ewes with a big loss every year, and represent- 
ing a value of perhaps $3.00 each with an income of $1.00; but 
with more improved sheep to produce lambs marketable at an 
early age as well as wool, even with the extra expense of herd- 
ing and attendance at lambing time the net results are much in 
favor of the latter plan. 



Possibilities of Cut-Over 
Lands 

By J. A. Evans 

Assistant Chief, States Relation Service, United 
States Department of Agriculture 

Mr. Chairman, I have been convinced for some time that this 
meeting is already "fed up" on farming talk, and I am therefore 
going to take the liberty of talking to you for a very few minutes 
about some other phases of the cut-over land problem that have 
suggested themselves to me during the course of this evening. 

I have been interested in the cut-over land problem for many 
years. For more than thirteen years I have been connected with 
the Department of Agriculture in what has been known as farm 
demonstration Avork in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and other 
Southern states, and much of our work has been in the cut-over 
land sections. I yield to no man in my belief in their possibili- 
ties. It should be stated, perhaps, that there are now in the 
fifteen Southern states more than seven hundred men engaged in 
farm demonstration work, a large proportion of them working 
directly on cut-over lands. These agents are engaged in helping 
farmers to make their farms more productive and profitable by 
demonstrating the actual practice of better methods and the ap- 
plication of scientific principles to the farm, and keeping records 
of the results obtained. 

In preparation for this meeting I addressed letters to more 
than one hundred of these special men in cut-over land sections 
and secured from them records of actual results on such lands 



202 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



and information on various subjects affecting their beneficial use. 
It has been demonstrated over and over again on every type of 
soil in this region that these cut-over lands can be made very pro- 
ductive. On thousands of demonstration farms with all the staple 
Phenomenal crops, yields running from fifty to two hundred per cent over and 
Yields on Cut- above the average of the state have been secured. Yields of from 
Over Lands twenty-five to thirty bushels of corn have been usual on such 
lands, but many phenomenal yields running as high as two 
hundred bushels per acre have been secured. In cotton we have 
produced from one-half bale to two bales per acre, and similar 
results with every standard crop have been secured. 

(In view of such results, absolutely proving the great possi- 
bilities of these soils, the question asked by your chairman at the 
beginning of this meeting is pertinent. What is the reason these 
lands remain unsettled and are apparently so unattractive to the 
average investor? I am a Southern man, and I believe — yes, 
know — cut-over lands of the South are destined some day to pro- 
vide homes for a great multitude of happy, independent, and 
prosperous farmers. But here is the situation. With things as 
they are, not one man in ten — and many careful observers with 
long experience in cut-over land sections say one in twenty-five 
■ — have any possible chance to go onto these cut-over lands, buy 
them, pay for them, and establish a home unless he has ample 
resources or some outside means of subsistence, particularly for 
the first two or three years. It can't be done. A gentleman in the 
Settler Must meeting this morning stated — and it is a well known fact — that it 
^^ ^"f ^^^"^(^' was usually the third purchaser that was able to stay on any par- 
ticular piece of land, and he considered this as an unavoidable 
condition. What makes it necessary? Simply this : these people 
have been brought to the South under almost fraudulent repre- 
sentations of what they could do on these lands with little capi- 
tal. Inspired by the glowing pictures painted by land promoters 
and sellers, clerks, stenographers, school teachers, preachers and 
people engaged in other occupations — not farmers — have been 
tempted to invest their little savings and come South in the be- 
lief that from a few acres they could wrest an immediate living 
and future independence. Practically all their money is taken 
from them as a cash payment, and the little left is used up in 
moving to their possessions. To go on cut-over land without 
capital or without outside help or assistance to try to make a 
living is a hopeless task. They fail ; they are bound to fail, and 
then they go home and "cuss" the country. 



lij Financed 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



203 



After two or three have thus sunk their Httle "wads" the third ^,^^ Reason 
or fourth man comes along, and, building on the foundation laid ^^r 5ome Past 
by the loss of capital of the others who preceded him, he may be Failures and 
able to stick and make a living, and if so, by and by, he develops Successes 
a good farm and becomes a successful, prosperous man, because 
the possibilities are there. I could take you into any cut-over land 
section and show you men who have made a success on these 
lands — show you substantial and prosperous farmers having 
farms worth from $50 to $100 an acre, some perhaps who would 
not take $100 an acre for their farms— built up from these cut- 
over lands. But they purchased these lands for something like 
what they were worth and on long credit. They paid, perhaps. 
S2 or $3— or at most $4 or $5— an acre and while developing the 
farms had work in the sawmills adjoining so that they were en- 
abled to support their families, and they and their families worked 
mornings, nights and holidays in clearing and in otherwise de- 
veloping their land. In this way, after a few years their farms 
were gotten into shape where they began to produce well and ^^^j/ ^^^1 Be 
be real farms. But a settler today on cut-over land hasn't, as a Built Up 
rule, the same chance. The opportunities for outside labor at re- 
munerative prices are not frequent and for the most part the men 
who purchase cut-over lands today have to depend on the land 
itself or on surplus capital for a living from the start. 

Now you can't, as a rule, start on cut-over land without capi- 
tal or without outside employment or help of some sort, and 
make a living on it for the first year or two. Why? I'ecause as 
has been told you— and it is the truth— these lands are naturally 
poor, some more so than others. They will grade from fair to 
poor but practically all of them are deficient in the three things 
that are essential for a fertile soil, that is, humus, or vegetable 
matter, phosphorous and nitrogen. In addition to this the 
mechanical condition of the soil is generally bad, so that it takes 
careful farming with proper rotation of crops and the use of 
legumes to build them up and it is not until after two or three 
vears of this kind of handling that they begin to produce well. 

As an offset to these disadvantages, on the other hand, is our 
w^onderful climate, good seasons, the great variety of crops we 
can grow, including legumes or soil building crops, and the re- 
sponsiveness of most of these soils to right treatment, the rapidity 
with which they can be built up and made fertile. You take these 
cut-over pine lands, particularly those soils with a deep red clay 



204 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Cut-Over 
Lands Poten- 
tially Finest 
in the World 



Metlxod of 

Colonization 

Suggested 



subsoil and sandy loam top soil, and I stand here to affirm that 
there is not potentially a finer soil on earth, one more capable of 
being made to produce abundantly — but it takes time, money and 
much labor to put it into condition to do so. 

I firmly believe, however, that it is feasible to colonize the 
cut-over land of agricultural value. There has never been a 
time when so many people were looking with longing eyes 
toward the South. Thousands of letters are received at the De- 
partment annually from all parts of the world inquiring about 
different sections of the South and many of them making spe- 
cific inquiries regarding colonization projects in the cut-over 
land sections. As the majority of these letters find their way to 
my desk, I have endeavored for years to keep in touch with 
such developments in this section. Wherever I have seen ad- 
vertisements of colonization projects I have written for their 
literature. I have carefully noted such advertisements in all the 
agricultural papers and in other ways have tried to be in position 
to give intelligent advice to such inquirers. I am sorry to have 
to say that in the great majority of cases my conscience would 
not permit me to recommend such projects to intending pur- 
chasers. Most of them, as shown by their letters, were -people 
of small means who were dreaming about building a home in 
the South and expecting to invest the savings of a lifetime in 
the undertaking. Notwithstanding my interest in this section 
of the South, I have felt compelled, as a rule, to advise against 
the investments contemplated, and I shall continue to follow this 
course as long as conditions surrounding the average coloniza- 
tion scheme remain as they are. 

What, then, should be done to make this section attractive 
to homeseekers and to render it possible for the man with small 
means to succeed? 

First — The owners of this vast domain should themselves 
undertake the handling and disposition of it. As a preliminary 
step the land should be surveyed and classified into agricultural 
and non-agricultural lands. 

Second — Then you should put a reasonable price upon it — 
a low price — get down to bedrock. It is unreasonable to expect 
to sell such lands at the prices which have been asked, as a rule, 
by the colonizers and promoters, prices ranging anywhere from 
$20 to $40 per acre. Consider for a moment what the purchaser 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



205 



of these lands for farming purposes is up against. The original 
price of the land is only a small part of his necessary expenses 
in building a home. To grub and clear the land ready for the 
plow without removing the stumps will cost him anywhere from 
$7 to $10 an acre ; fencing, $5 or $6 an acre ; necessary buildings, 
even of the most modest sort, from $5 to $10 an acre, and then, 
if he is to have a real farm, the stumps must be removed so 
that he can use improved machinery, and this entails an addi- 
tional expense of anywhere from $10 to $25 an acre, depending 
upon the character and number of the stumps to be removed. 
And, as has been pointed out, one or two years' cultivation is 
necessary before the land can be brought to a fairly productive 
state. You can afford to sell these lands at a reasonable price. 
They were purchased for the most part with the timber stand- 
ing at from 75 cents to $3 or $4 an acre. They are carried on 
the tax rolls of the various states today at from $1 to $2 an 
acre. Personally I do not believe that any of the cut-over pine 
land in its natural state is worth for agricultural purposes more 
than $10 per acre, and the greater part of it is not worth that. 

Third— It must be sold on long time and easy terms with Sell on Long 
practically no cash payment down or for the first two or three Time and^^ 
years. These lands will not, as a rule, attract the man with ^^^ 
money. They cannot compete with the prairie lands and im- 
proved farm lands in that market. Your purchasers will be, as 
in the past, people of small means who are hungering and thirst- 
ing for homes, but have not sufficient capital to buy improved 
farm lands. They must be sold on such terms that practically 
their entire capital can be devoted to improving the land and 
getting it into a productive state before much of a payment is 
required of them. And then when you have got them on the 
land you must be prepared to give them help financially and 
otherwise. You should work out some system by which, if 
necessary, you can loan them money for buildings, for fencing. 
It may be necessary and advisable to loan them money to pur- 
chase equipment, particularly a cow or two, a brood sow or two, 
and other live stock, and for seed and fertilizer. Once a man is 
located on your land you must do everything possible to see to 
it that he succeeds, for each success will bring you many addi- 
tional purchasers, but each failure will turn many prospective 
purchasers away. You may possibly find it advantageous to 
clear up large quantities of land and get them ready for culti- 



206 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Slumps as a 
Valuable By- 
product 



Government 
Will Co-oper- 
ate luith Set- 
tier 



vation before putting them on the market. This is a proposition 
which is entitled to careful consideration. 

I was very much interested in the remarks of Mr. Alexander 
regarding the utilization of the stumps and the value of the 
by-products which might be secured therefrom. This is a mat- 
ter which should be very fully investigated. If, in fact, there is 
twenty-five dollars' worth of by-products in each acre of stumps, 
it would be a sin and a crime not to utilize them. It may be 
that the inability to settle these lands heretofore has been provi- 
dential in order that this vast wealth which otherwise would 
have been wasted may be conserved. I was very much inter- 
ested in some photographs which were shown me today by Mr. 
Redhead, our Assistant State Agent in Louisiana. He tells me 
that in Tangipahoa Parish there is a man who at the cost of 
$300 has erected furnaces and is converting his stumps into 
various by-products. He has found that he can pay all expenses 
of removing the stumps and realize a profit at present prices of 
$10 to $15 an acre. It would seem feasible, then, for companies 
owning large tracts of land to either build plants and remove 
the stumps themselves or finance settlers in building these small 
plants in order that they might from the by-products of the 
stumps not only pay the expenses of clearing their land, but get 
an income suf^cient to support their families until the farm is 
put into condition to begin to return a revenue. 

You must also make some provision to see that they are 
given the right kind of advice and instruction. Even good 
farmers from the North make serious mistakes and frequent 
failures when they come South because conditions are so differ- 
ent. The one thing I am always careful to advise people from 
the North to do in coming South, is to get in touch with the 
county demonstration agents and be guided by their advice as 
to what and how to plant and how to cultivate and handle the 
crop. Provision for safe, conservative advice along this line will 
be doubly important to settlers on cut-over land because the 
majority of them will have little previous farm experience. 

Here is where the Department of Agriculture stands ready 
to co-operate with you. Thanks to the Smith-Lever bill, the 
Government and the colleges are now prepared to extend aid 
to new settlers on cut-over lands as never before. They will 
shortly have trained, skilled agriculturists in every county, and 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 207 



in most of the counties beside, a trained home economics agent 
who will be ready and willing to aid new settlers. If you will 
can settle upon your lands with a reasonable show of being able 
simply do your part and make conditions such that homieseekers 
to succeed, we will help them to do the rest. 

The Cut-Over Acre— What 
Is It Worth? 

By William R. Lighten 

Fayetteville, Ark. 

Producing power is the only real measure of value of smy 
source of wealth, whether it be a railway, a manufacturing in- 
dustry, a mine, or an acre of agricultural land. So, as a matter 
of course, we must know producing power before we can judge of 
value. 

Standard oil stock, steel stock, the soundest industrial stocks 
on the list, would be going a-begging if nobody had ever taken 
the trouble to find out anything about their earning capacity. 
That, and that alone, fixes their worth. 

By the same token, the largest^ single item in the wealth of 
the Southern states, their undeveloped land, hangs heavy and 
remains undeveloped simply because there is no general and ac- 
curate understanding of what it is able to do. Today, for just 
this reason, we are talking about the future use of this land as a 
problem. So it is ; but the problem does not lie in the character 
of the land itself. The trouble lies in the poverty of our knowl- 
edge. If the plain facts were known, then there would be no Value of Cui- 

problem at all. How could there be. in a time when the re- ^^^^ Lands 

,, ^-^uu ujr 1^ Little Known. 

motest corners of the contment have been searched for new lands Annre- 

which might be made fruitful even with vast expenditure of stated 
money and labor ; in a time when far-off deserts have been pain- 
fully reclaimed, when the forbidding semi-arid regions have been 
peopled, and when the ceaseless cry of the world is for a supply 
of food to keep pace with increasing needs? Yet here are these 
lands of ours, countless millions of acres, not unproductive, but 
their productive capacity a matter of blind guess-work in the 
minds of most of us. 



208 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Well, what are the facts? It will not do to say, in a loose, 
free-and-easy way, that the lands of the South are as fertile as 
any in the world. There has been too much of that sort of talk. 
What we want now is exactness. 

But exactness of statement of the facts is very difficult. It 
may interest you to know that it has taken many days of hard, 
patient digging in dry masses of census tables to gather the few 
plain figures I am presenting to you. It has not been possible to 
find them elsewhere. 

Note that in this comparative statement I am not dealing 
with exceptional conditions or unusual cases. I am giving aver- 
age figures for whole states over a ten-year period. 

For the ten years from 1900 to 1909, inclusive, the state of 
Arkansas showed a greater average value per acre of staple farm 

A f*J^/Tf f| C/7C f^Jlt— 

^ T , crops than was shown by the richest states of the great corn belt. 
Over Lands ^ / 1*1 

Out-Produce ^^^ those ten years that average crop-value m Arkansas was 

the Rich Corn $22.04 per acre. Mind you, this does not include cotton, rice. 

Belt sugar, fruit or truck crops, but only grain, potatoes, hay and 

forage common to the whole Mississippi Valley. 

For the same period, Illinois showed an average value per 
acre for the same products of $17.24. In Iowa the average pro- 
duction per acre was $14.52; in Indiana, $16.35; in Ohio, $17.62; 
in Missouri, $13.54. 

This production in Illinois represented a gross return of 18.1 
per cent on the average value of farm lands. In Iowa the re- 
turn was 17.5 per cent; in Arkansas it was 157.4 per cent. That 
is to say, Arkansas land with an average valuation of only $14 an 
acre yielded half again as much as the Iowa acre whose average 
valuation was $83.00. 

What gave the Iowa acre this greater valuation? Not its bet- 
• ■ ter production, as these figures show. Not its more favorable 

location, for Des Moines and Little Rock lie at almost exactly 
the same distance from the national center of population, which 
is approximately the center of consumption of farm products. 
Not better transportation facilities, for Arkansas products reach 
the great consuming markets as directly as those of Iowa. In- 
deed, the odds are rather in favor of Arkansas in the matter of 
access to markets. 

There is only one true explanation of the higher level of Iowa 
land values. The facts as to the producing power of the Iowa 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 209 

acre are advertised and thoroughly known ; the facts as to Ar- lowa Profit- 

kansas are unadvertised and wholly unknown. The valuation of ing by Intelli- 

the Iowa acre is living tribute to the importance of intelligent 9^t^t Advertis- 

publicity. '"5' 

The time is coming inevitably when the neglected lands of 
the South, and not the lands of the Corn Belt, will be the center 
of production of the staple foodstuffs. Why? Because acre- 
production in the South is greater .and production-cost almost 
incomparably less. 

The good Iowa acre produces in a season only 500 pounds of 
pork, at a cost of 4 to 5 cents a pound. The Arkansas acre, in the 
longer season of the South, produces 1,000 pounds of pork at a 
cost of 2 to 2y2 cents a pound. The Arkansas Experiment Sta- 
tion has produced 1,252 pounds per acre at a cost of 1^4 cents. 
On my own farm in the highlands of Northwest Arkansas the 
average production-cost of Irish potatoes is from 10 to 12 cents 
a bushel. An acre of well-established southern Bermuda grass 
pasture will carry six head of grazing cattle over a period of 6 to 
8 months, whereas in Iowa an acre of pasture will hardly carrv 
one grazing animal through the shortest summer season. 

These are suggestive and typical items. I wish I had time for 
dwelling more fully upon the comparison. 

The key to the solution of this cut-over land problem is a 
consistent campaign of the right sort of publicity — not for the 
fact that low land-prices offer the speculator a stunning oppor- 
tunity, but for the bigger fact of producing power. Let that 
power become known, and settlement and development will fol- 
low with absolute certainty. 

About the worst thing that might happen to the South would 
be to have the exploitation of these lands fall into the hands of 
the speculator or the professional promoter. The best thing that 
might happen would be the beginning of intelligent publicity of 
the sort which will make its appeal to farmers rather than to mere South Should 
adventurers. With such publicity we shall open a plain, straight Make Its 
way for the soundest of all development, a development which Advantages 
will be free of all the insanity of "booming," a development which ^"^"'" 
will with absolute certainty convert this burden of millions of 
acres of unused land into a producing asset of incalculable worth. 
In such publicity I see the South's chief hope for a future whose 
soundness will be impregnable. 



210 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Early History 
of the Sheep 
Industry in 
America 



Shortage of Raw Material — 
fhe Demand Increasing 

By A. C. Bigelow 

President, Philadelphia Wool and Textile 
Association 

Gentlemen, I want to express to you my appreciation of the 
honor of having been invited to come here and address this meet- 
ing. I have come 1,500 miles for that purpose; and I think you 
will understand that I should not have made such a long journey 
down here if I had not been impressed with the importance of 
this gathering and the importance of that which I wish to present 
to you in regard to the agricultural proposition, especially sheep 
husbandry. 

It is probably worth while to explain to you briefly the de- 
velopment of the sheep industry in this country. As you will 
readily understand, it was natural that it should start in the 
Eastern states, as the original Merino sheep came mostly to us 
from Spain in the early part of the last century. The New Eng- 
land states in the early days showed quite a rapid development, 
and Vermont was at one time a large sheep producing state. In 
that state the number of sheep were as follows : 



The Herds- 
man Moves 
Westward 



Vermont — 


Year 


No. of Sheep 




1840 


1,681,819 




1860 


752,201 




1880 


439,870 




1915 


47,416 



Following the advance westward of population, sheep were 
largely kept in New York State, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Dur- 
ing the ten years from 1870 to 1880, there were close to 5,000.000 
sheep in the state of Ohio. In 1890 the number dropped to 4,- 
000,000, while in 1915 they were reduced to 2,100,000. Still ad- 
vancing westward, and following the areas of cheaper lands, we 
find that Texas had as follows: 



The Dawn of a New Const rue live Era 211 



fexas — 


Year 


No. of Sheep 




1880 


3.600,000 




1890 


4,260.000 



But with the advance of the farming element, restricting the 
areas of cheap land, Texas dropped in 1915 to 1,600,000 sheep. 
In California we find as follows : 



California — 


Year 


No. of Sheep 




1880 


5,727,000 




1890 


3,373,000 




1913 


1,900,000 



During this early period it should be noted that sheep were 
kept for the wool product alone. We were educated as a beef- 
eating people, and our immense supplies of cattle made beef 
cheap. Mutton at that time was an insignificant factor in the 
profit and loss account. This situation has now changed com- 
pletely. The supply of cattle is decreasing so materially that \YooI, Once 
beef is advancing greatly. Mutton and lamb have been improved Chief Factor, 
in quality, and there is a good demand for it today. Results care- A'oty a 
fully taken at the Pennsylvania State College show that the mut- ^U-Product 
,ton product of sheep represents about two-thirds, whilst wool 
today represents about one-third, making wool a by-product; so 
that the market fluctuations in wool, which will always occur 
to a certain extent, will not have any great effect on the profit 
account of the sheep industry. 

With restriction of the cheap lands in Texas and California. 
the bands of sheep were driven up into the mountainous grazing 
limits of the northwestern section, and there we find for many 
years a great increase in the number of sheep, especially in the 
states of Wyoming. Idaho and Montana. But here, too. within Western Graz- 
the last few years, we can find the same cause operating a de- "'f/ Area 
crease in the flocks — the homesteader and farmer are coming in, ^^^".* „.„ 
the ranges are restricted, and production has decreased. In ef- 
fect, the whole industry has moved like a great wave, on the lines 
of least resistance, utilizing cheap grazing lands as long as they 
were cheap, and showing a decrease as soon as they were occu- 
pied for agricultural purposes. 

The great Northwestern grazing territory, comprising the 
states of Montana, Idaho, WVoming and Oregon, containing vast 
areas of free or very cheap grazing lands, has been the great 



Dwindling 



212 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Sheep Raiser 
Looks to 
South as Fu- 
ture Field 



source of wool and mutton production during the present cen- 
tury. These four states in 1916, out of the total wool clip of the 
United States of 288,000,000 pounds, produced 86,255,000 pounds, 
or about thirty per cent. 

There has been during the past seven years, however, a con- 
tinued shrinkage in the production from these four states, caused 
by the overstocking of the ranges. During the session of the 
last Congress an Act was passed, opening up the Government 
lands in this section to the farmers in tracts of 640 acres. We 
sent a special agent into this section, tO' make a survey of condi- 
tions and to locate breeding stock ; and the reports we have re- 
ceived from him and from other sources, indicate that there is a 
great rush of farmers coming into this section, taking up these 
640-acre tracts, and in consequence the range is being broken up 
to such a great extent that those who have been maintaining 
sheep there are being forced to dispose of their flocks, and the 
evidence is conclusive, and our records show, that there will be 
a decrease during the next two years of about thirty per cent 
from this section. And, moreover, the evidence shows that there 
will be a continuing decline of production from this section for 
many years to come. It is quite evident, therefore, that the 
population of the United States will be seriously affected by thi^ 
rapid decline in this great sheep territory, and there is only one 
source left open now from which we can obtain an increase of 
sheep production, and that is in the farming sections east of the 
Mississippi River and in the unused land areas of the South. 

In all matters, political, social and economic, change is the 
law of the universe. As in the past, economic conditions oper- 
ated to drive the shepherd of the East our of business, and to 
develop the great sheep interests on the western grazing lands, 
so today again, economic conditions are forcing the western 
flockmaster out of business, and opening up a favorable oppor- 
tunity for the profitable maintenance and development of the 
sheep industry in the older sections, which have been so long 
neglected. 

We, of course, understand that the abnormal conditions 
created by this great war will not continue indefinitely. The 
demand for the armies of the warring nations is tremendous, and 
there is a certain amount of credit inflation, which tends to ad- 
vance prices above a normal level. It is quite natural that the 
question arises as to what will be the conditions as to prices 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



213 



when the war ceases. This matter has received the most careful 
attention, and has been closely studied by those who are thor- 
oughly competent to form an opinion, so far as human judgment 
can do so, on this matter. The result of consideration of this 
indicates that whilst we must look for some liquidation, and 
whilst it is expected that prices will be to a considerable extent 
lower than they are today, yet it is generally agreed that prices, 
both for meat and for wool, must be maintained for many years 
to come at a very much higher level than existed before the war. 
In the ordinary course of clothing consumption, a great part of 
the clothes which have been in use are converted again into wool 
fibre in the form of shoddy, and so used in connection with pure 
wool to produce woolen clothes. This reserve supply, as it may 
be called, of wool fibre, has been to a very large extent exhausted 
by the destructive agencies of war. Moreover, the great sheep 
countries of the world have been showing a decrease of produc- 
tion, and it is beyond doubt that war in this case has also been 
the means of a much further decrease on account of animals 
being used to provide food for the soldiers in extraordinary quan- 
tities. 

In connection with what will occur after the war, two other 
points must be taken into consideration, and the evidence of this 
is conclusive. One is that in all the warring nations the demands 
of the army for clothing have been so great that the civil popu- 
lation has been afforded a very inadequate supply of woolen 
clothing, and in consequence, when the war ceases there will be 
a tremendous demand for wool to re-clothe, not only this civil 
popu'lation, which is now non-combatant, but to supply those 
who are now using uniforms with the ordinary clothes of the 
civilian. The second point is that the nations at war will, on the 
cessation of hostilities, be forced to engage in the fiercest kind of 
commercial competition, to regain for themselves the markets 
which have been lost during the war, and to operate their in- 
dustries, in order to obtain an income, from which they may be 
able to pay off the interest on the enormous debts which they 
have contracted. And there is further evidence that the British 
Empire, controlling, as it does, two-thirds of the wool supply of 
the world, will maintain for a long period after the war, a strict 
control of these wool supplies, in order that she may conserve 
her industrial interests, of which none other are more important 
to her than those of woolen manufactures. In this connection, I 



High Sheep 
Prices to Con- 
tinue for 
Years 



Tremendous 
After-War 
Demand for 
Wool 
Expected 



214 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Eva 



Britain's 
Wool Supply 
to be Kept at 
Home 



Sheep Haising 
as a Profitable 
Investment 



present to you a short extract from an address delivered in Lon- 
don by Mr. E. F. Hitchcock, one of the officials of the Depart- 
ment which has control of raw material for the manufactories 
of the British Empire, as follows : 

"The British Empire produces 64 per cent of the world's ex- 
portable merino and crossbred wool, and the rest is produced in 
South America. Therefore, you see that the position of the 
British Empire so far as wool is concerned, is a very strong 
position indeed. I doubt whether there is any raw material, ex- 
cept perhaps rubber, which is of so great importance as wool, 
and of which at the same time the British Empire has a virtual 
monopoly as it has for wool. But the importance of the British 
Empire wool should not merely be measured in terms of quan- 
tity, it has also to be measured in terms of quality. The very 
finest merino avooIs most in demand for very fine cloths are 
grown in the British Empire. Australian merino wool is the 
finest wool on earth. You cannot get it elsewhere, it is not 
grown elsewhere, in any appreciable quantity at all. The I'ritish 
Empire controls 80 per cent of the world's merino wool produc- 
tion. I hope later to develop the enormous importance which 
raw material, wool especially, is going to play in the economic 
struggle after the war. 

Nothing appears to me so important as the reservation for our 
own needs of all the raw material that we want after the war. 
As food is to the individual, so is raw material to industrial coun- 
tries, and unless we make quite sure that we have sufficient sup- 
plies, we shall find that our industrial development will be very 
seriously retarded." 

The situation which presents itself to us, therefore, on ac- 
count of all which I have brought to your attention, shows that 
population for a number of years has been encroaching upon our 
production of food and of raw material of wool for clothing. Tt 
shows that the conditions brought about by the great war in 
progress has developed a world shortage of wool supplies, and it 
shows that our own domestic production in the great North- 
western territory will develop a very decided decrease from that 
section, which has been such an important factor in our wool 
production. It shows that after the war the demands in the 
warring countries to fill the needs of the civilian population is 
going to be tremendous. Based on all the premises, therefore, 
submitted regarding the extraordinary market which will be 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 215 

opened for wool especially, and for the product of meat which 
our rapidly increasing population nnust have, it is safe to as- 
sume that prices will be maintained upon a very high level, and 
that the opportunity presents itself to those who have lands suit- 
able for the maintenance of sheep, to engage in sheep husbandry 
as a very profitable business. 

I have been engaged during the past year in presenting this 
situation to our Northern farmers, in order that they might be 
fully aware of the fact that today sheep husbandry affords a 
wonderful opportunity for them to add to the profits of farm 
production. I have come here to present to you this informa- 
tion in regard to the sheep industry, that you might seriously 
consider whether or not the great areas of land which you con- 
trol, and which I understand are largely unproductive today, . 
may not be utilized and made profitable by engaging in the main- 
tenance of sheep on these lands. I do not pretend to be an ex- 
pert, with sufficient knowledge to inform you adequately as to 
how suitable the lands you control are for this industry. To ob- 
tain that information, you have at your command the services of 
the United States Department of Agriculture, the State Depart- soil Survey 
ments of Agriculture, and your Agricultural Colleges. It will be Should be 
advisable that you should solicit from them a proper survey, Made of Cut- 
which would establish to what extent your lands are adapted for ''"^^ Lands 
keeping sheep. It is worthy of note, however, that practically 
the same parallels of latitude north of the equator run through 
this section — that is to say — 30 degrees North Latitude — as run 
through the great wool-producing sections of Australia, Cape 
Colony and the Argentine Republic. Another point to be con- 
sidered is the fact that experience shows that the sheep readily 
adapts itself to greatly varied conditions of soil and climate. In 
England, where sheep have been bred for a long period of time, 
different breeds have been evolved exactly suited to local condi- 
tions, and in the little territory of England there is a great variety 
of sheep, which have been developed to suit the exact conditions 
of each locality ; from the Moorelands, with their Romney type, 
to the Cheviots in the Scotch Highlands, and the Kerry sheep 
for the rough mountain sections of Ireland. It is worthy of note 
here to state that the British Isles esteem sheep husbandry as a 
most important part of agriculture, especially in connection with 
the maintenance of soil fertility on high-priced lands. And it 
is also worthy of note that the British Isles, with an area less 



216 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Different 
Types of 
Sheep for 
Different 
Localities 



Sheep as a 
Fertilizing 
Agent 



than the state of Texas, produces practically the same amount 
of wool, on a scoured basis, as we produce here in the immense 
territory covered by the United States. The Spanish merino 
has thriven on the green hills of Vermont ; on the mountain 
ranges of Wyoming; on the pampas of the Argentine; on the 
veldts of Africa, and on the great plains of Australia. And the 
English type of sheep have thriven equally as well in the same 
regions. Given the land areas, therefore, which you have, and 
establishing their adaptability for the maintenance of sheep, it 
would seem quite reasonable that all that is necessary is an in- 
telligent and scientific attention to establish in this Southern 
territory a vast industry, which will lay the foundation for a bet- 
ter agriculture and a diversification of agricultural production, 
which would be of such great advantage to the Southland. 

I have touched upon sheep husbandry mainly in connection 
with its meat and wool product, but there is another considera- 
tion, which I wish to emphasize, and that is, that the sheep is 
known to be one of the best fertilizing agents of any kind of 
live stock. This has long been generally recognized by shep- 
herds, and their appreciation of this fact has been shown by their 
use of the term "The Golden Hoof," as applying to this feature 
of sheep husbandry in its relation to the fertility of the soil. 

I have presented to you this matter of the sheep industry en- 
tirely from the commercial standpoint. I am going to take the 
liberty to suggest to you that under the circumstances this mat- 
ter is worthy of your consideration from another point of view 
than pure commercialism. 

No one is justified in allowing that which may be made pro- 
ductive to stand idle. It seems to me there is a moral obligation 
that rests upon people like yourselves, who control great quan- 
tities of lands, to make those lands productive for the national 
needs. Your opportunities in all things are created for you by 
the activities of the millions of people in these United States. 
There is a mutual interdependence, at times intangible but always 
real, between each individual and each community in the nation. 
Today and in the future the cry of these other millions comes to 
you, to use your land to supply their needs. 



The Dawn of a New Conslnictive Era J^ 

Forestry and Cattle Raising 

on the Cut-Over Pine Lands 

of the Southern States 

By Major J. G. Lee 

Department of Forestry and Horticulture, 
Louisiana State University 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Conference: 
I want to preface what I shall have to say by stating at the 
outset that my remarks will apply only to the long leaf pine 
flats and hills of the cut-over pine region and not to the short 
leaf pine and mixed hardwoods appearing just north of the long 
leaf pine growth. These latter soils, having a good red clay 
subsoil, are better grade of the sandy loam type, and are better 
suited to agriculture. And in the short time allotted me to dis- 
cuss so big a subject as forestry and cattle raising on the cut- 
over pine lands of the South, I can speak only in general terms, 
and discuss general principles, the fundamentals, if you will, 
which ought to govern policy and procedure in any plan' which 
might be devised for their economic development. 

First of all, I want to make a plea for forestry and re- 
forestation upon much of this cut-over land. The forest re- j,^^ Necessity 
sources of the South and the industries dependent upon forests, of Reforesta- 
the continuity of growth and use, are too important, they are too tion 
big an asset to state and nation, now and always, not to be given 
serious consideration and provision made for their perpetuation 
and preservation. 

According to Chief Forester Graves, more than one-fifth of 
the nation's total timber wealth is found in the South. About 
one-sixth of all the soft woods of the entire country and over 
one-half of the hardwoods are in the South. Our great naval 
stores supplies, upon which many of our important industries 
depend, are in Southern pineries. With the exhaustion of these 
and of our hardwood supplies comes also the exhaustion of 
these and other industries, which will materially and vitally 
affect the whole country. 



218 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Southern 
Forests as a 
Wealth 
Producer 



France's Arti- 
ficially- 
Developed 
Turpentine 
Industry 



And yet we are told that nowhere in the United States can 
the naval stores industry or the production of hardwood timber 
be carried on with the same natural and economic advantages 
as in the South. Mr. Graves says further that Southern pine is 
the principal softwood used in fully two-thirds of the country 
east of the 100th meridian, or that portion comprising 70 per 
cent of the country's population. Backed by a supply of some 
325 billion feet of yellow pine and about 20,000 sawmills, the 
pine industry holds today a commanding place in the nation's 
lumber market. 

The existence of this vast storehouse of lumber has played 
a great part in the development of the South and has been the 
source of a great deal of wealth. Today the forest industry 
stands first in no less than six Southern states, second in an- 
other four, and third in another three. A half billion dollars is 
invested in this great industry ; more than 400,000 people are 
employed in it ; 20,000 sawmills and other manufacturing estab- 
lishments are supported by this great industry. The forest in- 
dustry draws upon a resource occupying now more than half 
the total land area of the South. By their very magnitude the 
forest problems of the South command attention. Their local 
importance, looking to the future, is so great that no considera- 
tion of the welfare of the South can afford to omit them. 

With this authoritative view of the situation, so well and so 
forcefully stated, may we not pause in our deliberations and con- 
sider further these forests and their place in the economic de- 
velopment of this vast region. 

Up to date the turpentine industry, a by-product of the for- 
est, has had the advantage of a great natural forest, richly en- 
dowed with species capable of yielding an abundant supply of 
turpentine and rosin. The diligence of man has neither founded 
nor preserved the virgin supply. On the contrary, its destruc- 
tion will be brought about by men unless steps are taken to 
prevent it. 

There are but two great centers of turpentine supply, viz. : 
Southern France and the Southern United States. In France it 
is a "man-made" industry. We are told that "out of shifting, 
barren sand dunes and a malarial, poverty-stricken region" the 
French government, through reclamation and the planting of 
maritime pines, has made one of the most prosperous and salu- 



The Dawn of a New Constriictiue Era 219 



brious sections of l^Yance. A century ago these lands had no 
value. It is said that "$1.00 would buy land, in extent, as far as 
the voice would carry." Yet today this reclaimed land is worth 
from $2.50 to $25.00 per acre. The forest pine land stocked with 
2-year-old pine seedlings is worth $9.00 per acre ; stocked with 
10-year-old pine it is worth $30.00; stocked with 30-year-old pine 
it is worth $80.00, and with 50-year-old pine it is worth $160.00 
per acre. 

Is this sort of development not worth while and may we not 
heed the lesson and plan for its application in much of the region 
we are now considering, as part of a forest policy yet to be 
adopted? 

Again, a hitherto unutilized resource of waste material in 
manufacture, another by-product, has come to Southern pine 
and it has come to stay, if provision be now made for future 
supplies. I refer to the paper pulp industry, now so acute in 
this country. The Great Southern Lumber Company at Boga- 
lusa has already learned this wonderful economic lesson of closer 
utilization of waste material for paper pulp, and it is demon- 
strating it to the world. The ultimate exhaustion of virgin sup- 
ply and the problem of future supply is even now receiving the 
attention of Mr. Sullivan, the manager, and experiments in grow- 
ing native pines to meet the situation are under way ; and it 
would appear that our native loblolly or old field pine, less 
resinous, hardy, quick growing and persistent, might prove it- 
self adequate, and it is indigenous to all the region under con- 
sideration. 

However, our forest problem here is not one merely of lum- 
ber, trees, turpentine, and paper pulp. "There is involved the 
principle of the productive use and occupancy of the land, 
whether it be in agricultural home building or the growing of 
trees." And in its further consideration I want to lay down as 
a fundamental proposition that forestry, like agriculture, is a land 
problem, an economic problem, an educational problem. 

Foresters everywhere recognize and practice these prin- 
ciples, viz.: First, that all land should be utilized; second, that 

land should be put to its best and -most economic use ; third, ^^f* ^^ ."* 

r r J ^" Asset to 

that all land fit for agriculture shall be devoted to, or reserved Agriculture 

for, agriculture ; and fourth, that all land not fit for agriculture 

shall be devoted to some kind of forest growth, for let it be re- 



220 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



membered that there are no soil conditions, rich or poor, high 
or low, wet or dry, but they will grow some sort of trees useful 
to mankind. Agriculture is our great basic industry, but next 
to it is the great business of forestry and its dependent indus- 
tries. 

Three centuries of agricultural history in this country has 
given us a clear definition of agriculture and its many phases of 
stock raising, dairying, marketing, etc. Likewise has three cen- 
turies of forestry in Europe given equally as broad a definition 
for forestry and its dependent industries. There both forestry 
and agriculture are considered as land problems and forestry is 
co-ordinate with agriculture. Likewise must we also come to 
consider broadly forestry with agriculture in the solution of our 
land problems — hand in hand they must go ; both are products 
of the soil, one an annual, the other a periodic crop. 

In German states, where conditions are not so favorable for 
forest growth as they are with us, forest lands are made to pay 
Where Forest from $2.C0 to $7.00 per acre per annum, with all the land devoted 
Growth Has either to agriculture or to forests. Now, assuming Louisiana to 
be representative of the Southern cut-over pine lands, and that 
soil and other conditions are not very dissimilar, let me con- 
sider more directly the problem of their development and the 
principles of action that should guide in the solution. 

According to the State Conservation Commission, there are 
five and one-half million acres of cut-over pine lands in Louis- 
iana alone, and I understand some 8,000,000 acres of such land 
is owned by members of the Southern Pine Association. There 
are other millions not credited, aggregating a total of 76,000,000 
acres. These are waste lands, producing nothing other than 
taxes, yielding no revenue, paying no interest on invested cap- 
ital. They are idle lands and should be put to some sort of use. 
Shall they find their best use in timber production or in some 
form of agricultural production? 

Undoubtedly a large percentage, 75 or 80 per cent, is fit for 
some sort of farming. The remaining 20 or 25 per cent is cer- 
tainly fit only for some kind of forest growth. Moreover, with 
the most favorable colonization schemes in operation, it will be 
a generation or more before all the agricultural lands will be 
occupied, and in the meantime why should they not be growing 
timber? 



Been Made 
Profitable 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 221 

Much of the land of the long leaf pine region now under 
cultivation had best be in forest growth, and likewise much in 
forest might best be in agriculture. 

Therefore, might it not be a wiser and better plan to recog- 
nize and follow the principle of practice laid down by European 
states and by our National Forest Service, viz. : by an authorita- 
tive soil survey and an intelligent land classification program, 
whether they are absolute forest lands or absolute agricultural Cut-Over 
lands, thus to determine these facts of land use? By this com- ^"""^ Should 
petent means we shall then have definite knowledge to guide, as 
to lands, their best use, crops, kinds, adaptability, etc. Then and 
not till then shall we be able to determine intelligently and def- 
initely the truth about them and their development, whether in 
forest or in agriculture. 

Any other speculative scheme for colonization might, as it 
has done "in the past, prove disappointing if not disastrous, and 
the results return to harass the inventor and injure the state 
permanently. For in their agricultural exploitation let it not be 
expected that so utilized they will be the "cure-all" for present 
agricultural ills and shortages. It is not true, arid though the 
heavens fall, let the truth about them be known and told. 

Primarily the long leaf pine grows on poor soils. These cut- 
over pine lands generally are poor lands and we must recognize 
that fact. Unaided, we must not expect profitable production of 
staple crops. However, they are of varying character, and, by 
selection, many acres may be found that are susceptible of im- Crops Best 
provement and responsive to intelligent fertilization. With the ^ '^^^ ^^ 
proper rotation of crops, using cow peas and other legumes in i^^j^^jg 
the rotation, supplementing with liberal applications of commer- 
cial, home-made, green and other manures, and with a good sys- 
tem of drainage, particularly on the pine flats, they can be made 
profitable. 

This is abundantly attested by the $3,000,000 annual straw- 
berry and vegetable crops produced on cut-over lands along the 
Illinois Central railroad in Tangipahoa Parish, and in the de- 
veloping pecan and citrus fruit industries in the coast region of 
the Gulf states. 

Again, on most of these soils, due to their sandy character, 
peanuts, sweet potatoes, cow peas, velvet and soja beans produce 
well, and their extensive growth and use on such lands will 



222 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Public on 
Reforestation 



form the bases for their improvement, and for an ultimate prof- 
itable hog and cattle raising industry, for these crops, in these 
soils, have the advantage over the heavier and more fertile soils. 

On the other hand, it is equally true that the remaining 20 
or 25 per cent of these cut-over lands is fit only for forest growth 
of some kind. This is particularly true of the dry sand ridges 
and hills found north of the pine flats of the coast region. Pov- 
erty, leaching and erosion of all such lands would be the prob- 
lem and the remedy would be a forest growth of proper species. 

Reforestation here should be our slogan ; and yet before re- 
forestation work shall appeal to the average owner the educa- 
tional side of our problem must be emphasized. We shall not 
Educating the progress in reforestation until the state and the public are be- 
hind the work ; and this will hardly come about until, through a 
slow process of education, we are brought to appreciate more 
fully its economic need and importance, and that it is essential 
to our industrial development and to the solution of this great 
idle land problem. 

If forestry means anything it means reproduction, a con- 
tinuity of forest growth and a continuity of forest use — a maxi- 
mum of growth in a minimum of time, at a minimum of cost, 
secured through the best possible silvicultural system of man- 
agement, the forest cut on a rotation basis, and cutting no more 
per annum than the annual growth. 

Forest fires, after man, are the worst enemies of the forest. 
They prevent and destroy reproduction and otherwise injure and 
destroy standing timber. The practice of burning off the woods 
to improve grazing, so frequently done throughout the pine 
region, must be corrected, and the fact of injury done by fire to 
both soil and forest must be taught. 

And, again, let it be taught that grazing by cattle, goats, 
sheep and hogs is permissible only in mature forests ; that they 
have no place in a seedling forest. Within the past few years, 
in his reforestation work at Urania, Mr. Hardtner has found and 
proven that the "razorback" hog is even a worse enemy than 
fire to long leaf pine reproduction. And who will say that the 
razorback hog should have place in any modern agricultural 
community development ! 

This development problem is complex and in its solution 
thoughtful men and women everywhere must give it their sym- 



Three Ene- 
mies to Forest 
Growth 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



223 



pathetic interest and co-operative effort and support. "In a mul- 
titude of counselors there is safety." 

Much that I have said concerning- agriculture in the cut- 
over lands is applicable to the cattle raising part of my subject. 
But concerning cattle raising specifically, it is undoubtedly true 
that with the cattle tick eliminated, as it will be, a profitable 
cattle industry may be developed on much of our cut-over lands, 
particularly on the pine flat lands, though not with the scrub 
type of cattle. 

In determining the adaptability of a region for a profitable 
cattle industry, several conditions must be considered and pro- 
vided for. An abundant supply of good water, ample pasturage Essentials to 
for grazing, meadows for hay, good soil for the economic pro- Successful 
duction of forage and ensilage crops, transportation, and a con- ''"'''<' tiaising 
venient cheap source of supply for concentrated foods — these 
are essential. 

Within the region most of these conditions are met or may 
be met. It must be remembered, however, that the natural 
grazing is not first class. The native grasses growing in the 
pine woods do not have a high nutritive value. By the intro- 
duction of cultivated grasses, however, particularly lespedeza. 
carpet and Bermuda grasses, this difficulty may be overcome. 
Indeed, these grasses are already finding themselves distributed 
and thriving on many of the better types of pine flat soils. By 
soils preparation and selection, meadows of these same grasses 
may be developed and supplemented with peanut, cow pea, 
velvet and soja bean hay. According to Dr. Nesom of the Fed- 
eral and State Live Stock Extension service it will require five 
to six acres of cut-over pine land summer grazing for the support 
of one cow. He also tells us that one acre of good Bermuda 
grass on our heavier, more fertile soils will support two head of 
cattle through the growing period. 

The problem of cultivated forage and ensilage crops for 

winter feeding on cut-over lands is more difficult of solution — 

it involves the agricultural difficulties previously referred to. 

First of all. there is the problem and cost of stump removal to ^,. ^,?^? " 

Of Winter 
be considered and again the problem of drainage of the pine feeding 

flats, embracing varying soil types of sand, silt, sand and clay 

loams, underlaid for the most part with a stiff impervious clay — 

I repeat that here drainage is of the first importance. 



Climatic and 



224 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

This condition met and the system of rotation and fertiliza- 
tion practiced as already mentioned, then the problem of forage 
and ensilage crops becomes easy. 

According to Mr. Perkins of the Federal Live Stock Exten- 
sion, soja beans and corn and sorghum are the ideal and eco- 
nomic ensilage crops for Louisiana. The cut-over lands unaided 
would hardly produce a profitable tonnage in corn, sorghum, or 
soja beans, say five to seven tons per acre, compared to ten to 
fourteen tons on the better lands of the state. This will about 
hold true with sorghum, cane and other forage and ensilage 
crops of the state. However, these yields with soil improve- 
ment may be approached if not equaled on much of the cut-over 
regions. 

The conditions of climate, mild winters, ample rainfall, long' 
growing seasons, etc., are splendidly met in all the cut-over pine 
regions of the South, and with these natural advantages in our 
favor, why may we not remove the minor difficulties and build 
o'theTNatural "P ^ profitable cattle and hog industry throughout the cut-over 
Advantages P^"^ regions of the South? The Morris packing plant to be 
built in this city even now calls for such an industry. And his- 
tory teaches that without a live stock industry no system of 
agriculture can become permanently profitable, for "live stock is 
the strong right arm of agriculture." 

Briefly and in conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the ideal of eco- 
nomic development, which I would love to see come to these 
76,000,000 acres of idle cut-over lands, if practicable, is some- 
thing like this: 

First — Survey and classify as indicated, ascertaining by ex- 
perimentation their best economic use, forest or agriculture, and 
so locate and designate them as definite information. This 
would separate all lands into two general classes, viz. : absolute 
forest lands and absolute agricultural lands. The agricultural 
land might be further classified then as to the kind of crops it 
were best to grow. The absolute forest land then to be refor- 
ested with the best suited, most needed, rapid growing species, 
and so kept scientifically and permanently in forest supply. 

Second — Colonize, selling in small farms to bona fide, thrifty 
farmers — home and agricultural community builders — at a price, 
based upon productive value, with enough of the forest land 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



225 



added, the "farm wood lot," to amply supply domestic needs and 
local demands for cord wood, posts, poles, cross-ties, and some 
dimension stuff, and so managed as to satisfy the principle of 
continuity of growth and continuity of use. In such a coloniza- 
tion plan, selfish speculative schemes should have no part, and 
if faithfully carried out would ultimately occupy and utilize all 
the land economically. It would settle the region with com- 
munities of small white farmers, owning and operating intelli- 
gently, scientifically and intensively their own farms, building 
good roads, schools and churches ; producing wealth for home 
and state, through a sane and profitable system of diversified 
agriculture, of crops and animals— making "two blades of grass 
to grow where none grew before." 



226 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



The Nation's 
Trend Away 
from the 
Farm 



Rural Depop- 
ulation a 
Menace to the 
Nation 



The Necessity for Organized 

Effort 

By General L. C. Boyle 

of Kansas City- 
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I want to tell you of a 
thought that has occurred to me while I sat here today listen- 
ing to this discussion. You talked about sheep, important as it 
is ; cattle and hogs and grain ; but there is something at the base 
of all that which is more important than anything else, and that 
is that this Conference is giving evidence of the right spirit, the 
unselfish spirit ; that is an evidence of devotion at a very logical 
and critical time in our' nation's history. 

What is this movement we are discussing here? It is a 
movement that, at its base, means. Back to the land. My 
friends, we are 140-odd years old, this nation. Jefferson said we 
should have a government here devoted to agriculture. He 
discouraged industry, in our modern sense of great industrial 
centers ; discouraged the commerce of the seas, and said that we 
should have a great nation of agriculturists, with small com- 
munities. That was . the ideal social body, according to the 
vision of that great far-seeing man. For a little while, however, 
and for years, we were an agricultural body; but in the last 
thirty-six years the trend of oscillation has been from the farm 
to the great cities of the land. Thirty-odd years ago 70 per cent 
of our people lived on the land or in rural communities. Today 
over 50 per cent of our people live within city walls. From a 
producing, we are becoming a consuming nation. From a rural 
we become an urban social order. 

The history of the peoples of the past, as written, teaches 
their love of the land and their loyalty to the land ; and just in 
proportion as they left the land for the cities, in that proportion 
can you read the downfalls of the nations of the past. The ob- 
servers and thinkers of modern life here in America recognize 
a menace to the national life in the growth of our great cities 
and the depopulation of our rural communities. Do you know 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 227 

that Iowa, that Missouri, that Illinois, that the great central 
agricultural part of this great nation has lost population in its 
rural life in the last ten years? The cities have grown apace, 
but the farms are gradually being deserted. We are becoming 
a purchasing nation, teaching food values in the raw material. 
This is not as it should be; and the deep significance to me of 
this movement here — the broad basis that is at the base of it — 
is that you are teaching the youth of the land here in the South 
that the prime necessity of the hour is. Back to the soil. 

My friends, we are living in the most classic period in the 
world's history. We read the history of Rome and the peoples 
of the past, and our own early strife and struggles; but at no 
period of the world's history were there such great things at stake 
as right now ; and this great nation is to be a pathfinder in this 
new order of things. (Applause.) She was the harbinger, and 
we led the battle, for freedom originally. Her example has in- 
spired the hearts of the people of Europe. Today we see China America as 
and Russia and movements in other countries evidencing the the Path- 
desire for freedom. We have gone into this great conflict, not finder of the 
with the desire of conquest, but that democracy may be the '^^^l^Jj.^^y 
ruling principle of the world. (Applause.) Democracy — that is 
the spirit abroad in the world today. It is the great contest that 
is being fought on the bloody fields of Europe ; and here in the 
South, in the presence of you fine men and women, I want to 
say that you are doing a great patriotic duty and helping this 
cause of freedom by urging the cultivation of the soil, that our 
people may be fed, and that we may feed the soldiers who are 
fighting your battles, and your children's battles. That is the 
significance of this great meeting here. It is the spiritual thing 
involved here. Why, sir, to me it is an exalting thought that 
you haven't heard a man today talk about profit; not a man 
today has been talking about how miuch money he could make ; 
everything has been in the spirit of helping the little fellow — of Unselfish 
doing something for the state and the nation. And, my friends. Co-operation 
is it not something to be proud of that we have that spirit? Spirit of the 
Why, it is the spirit that was in us when we defeated Spain and 
took the Philippines from her, and then paid her for them. It 
is the spirit that animated us when we went to Porto Rico and 
built roads and gave her schools and an efficient government ; 
when we went to Hawaii and gave her order and industrial pros- 
perity. It is the spirit that makes us want to help construct and 



228 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Cut-Over 
Land Owners 
Must Get 
Togetlier 



aid, and not tear down, and that is the spirit here. The thing 
we are in this war for is to aid and construct, and that is the 
spirit here ; to aid the little m'an to come and get this good land 
of yours in the South that has been lying here. It is a fine 
thing to see men like Mr. Bigelow come from Philadelphia ; like 
this other man from Michigan, and others from a distance, to 
come down and talk to you, not for money, but to help you and 
themselves and the nation ; and that is the big thing of this 
meeting. There is nothing selfish about it, nothing ordinary 
about it, nothing sordid about it. I also see manifested here 
the spirit of co-operation. That is the cornerstone of social life. 
The church and school are the great distributors of the co-oper- 
ative spirit. Everything must be co-operative. No man is suf- 
ficient unto himself any more. The day of individualism is past. 
The day of the man working alone at his task is past. The rail- 
roads and the telegraph have made us co-operate. We cannot 
live within ourselves; we must live for and with each other; and 
it is only through co-operation that this great enterprise can 
truly be made a success. 

Interesting as it is, we may observe the practical illustration 
of that, in this question of pulling up stumps. The poor man 
cannot buy the machinery sufficient to do this work himself; 
but a group, co-operating, can. A man cannot by himself erad- 
icate the tick ; but groups of them can, by co-operating with the 
state. The subject of the hour is co-operation. Here we find 
the nation sending its skilled scientists down here to talk to the 
farmer. Do you know the new thought coming to those people 
and to the nation? It is not government ownership — but gov- 
ernment co-operation with the people ; that is the order of the 
day. (Applause.) Why, it took us 105 years to realize the 
necessity of a Department of Agriculture in this nation of ours. 
Although an agricultural people, we lived as a nation for over 
a hundred years before they gave you a Department of Agri- 
culture. One hundred and twenty-five years passed before they 
saw the necessity of giving us a Department of Commerce ; and 
but a few years ago — three, in fact — we developed the Depart- 
ment of Labor. Gentlemen, this has been a slow growth, but 
the nation is getting hold of itself and is understanding the 
problem of government. Government is nothing more than you 
and I and each of us trying to help each other; and having men 
up there in Washington making studies and scientific research. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



229 



working- splendidly there to aid all of us. Here we have the 
banks getting together and co-operating through the Federal 
Reserve Bank. Here we have the railroads co-operating through 
the Interstate Commerce Commission, or we have the farmers 
co-operating through the Agricultural Department. Everything 
has the spirit of co-operation, and here you are getting it down 
here, teaching us about these good lands that may be made so 
useful by co-operation. No lumberman, no owner of cut-over 
lands, can do anything by himself; but with his neighbor and 
that spread out through all the state, much can be done. 

It is a pleasure to have been here. I want to say to you 
that the great vital thought I will carry away is this : The men 
who had the vision, the understanding and the spirit to conceive 
this thought, and then work it out in a masterful way, and make 
manifest their purposes so clearly; who have had a nation's 
agriculturists and scientists, business men and lawyers, attracted 
to the big idea they evolved— that is the big thing here; and 
men that have that conception, and that can state it so clearly 
as to challenge our admiration, are bound to succeed in this great 
ienterprise. I have no doubt that you men are not the kind of 
patriots who just appear and make a noise, but you are the kind 
of patriots who will persevere in this great task of making these 
lands that God gave the people habitable for the poor and the 
needy, and again restore this nation to a self-sufificient, self-sup- 
porting, prosperous, glorious country that will be the leader of 
your democracy for all time— if we are but true to our oppor- 
tunity. I thank you. (Applause.) 



230 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Make Lands 
Attractive to 
Prospective 
Settlers 



Drainage and 

Stump 

Removal 



Cut-Over Lands and Their 

Value 

By C. C. Prescott 

Agricultural Agent, Southern Railway System 
Development Service 

I was raised on a South Mississippi farm on pine knots and 
clabber. This was a cut-over land farm and produced crops 
every year. Any cut-over farm land in the pine belt can be made 
to do the same thing. 

There must be certain essentials for the development of this 
land in order that it may yield the maximum crops for the labor 
expended. Naturally, of course, on cut-over lands the appear- 
ance has a great deal to do with newcomers or buyers living 
near them. These lands after the timber has been cut off are 
left in a dilapidated condition. 

In order to facilitate matters in so far as reclaiming these 
lands from an agricultural viewpoint, the stumps, tree tops and 
gullied lands should receive attention at the earliest possible 
momient. In other words, cut-over lands should be made pro- 
ductive. Thousands of acres of this land should now be in cul- 
tivation producing food and feed crops and at the same time 
giving homes to thousands of people who need these lands. 

Today the large land holder is detrimental to the agricul- 
tural progress of any territory. He should be induced to cut this 
land into smaller area, and aid in building communities and 
good roads in order that it will appeal to the man who has 
brains and money and is seeking a home. Our cut-over lands 
will remain idle for years to come unless our business enterprises 
and large land holders put forth every effort to make these lands 
attractive. 

As they are, thousands of acres look like a gigantic army 
en route for Germany on account of the millions of stumps. 
These stumps should be converted into charcoal and smoke, 
thereby eliminating a great drawback to our agricultural prog- 
ress. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 231 

Thousands of acres of this land should receive attention with 
reference to drainage. This will cause a greater production of 
crops and this matter can be handled with the manufacturers of 
drain tile. Thousands of acres of this land could be converted 
into dairy farms and beef cattle ranches under competent man- 
agement. 

I believe a lot of people are looking for such opportunities 
if these lands can only be shown in an attractive way. There- 
fore, my solution for the situation is that every large land owner, 
especially the lumber interests, should put forth every effort to 
put all cut-over lands in attractive shape, sell these lands at a 
reasonable price for cash or on terms to suit a worthy prospect. 



232 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 

Resolutions Adopted at the 
Cut-Over Land Confer- 
ence of the South 

Resolved, by the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South repre- 
senting Eastern Texas, Arkansas, vSouthern Missouri, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Western Georgia and Western Florida, in 
convention assembled at New Orleans, La., April 11th, 12th and 
13th, 1917, that: 

Whereas, in the present national crisis the production of food, 
especially of meat and dairy products, is of equal importance to 
the manufacture of munitions of war; the success of the United 
States and her allies in the great war will largely depend on the 
maintenance and increase of the supplies of food-producing ani- 
mals in the United States; the largest area of undeveloped but 
potentially valuable cattle-producing territory in the country is 
situated in the Southern states and the greatest obstacle to the ex- 
tension of the cattle industry of the South is the Texas fever cattle 
tick ; 

Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the rapid, efficient and complete 
Eradication eradication of the Texas fever cattle tick has now become a pa- 
of the Cattle triotic obligation upon those states comprising within their borders 
Tick areas still under quarantine ; and 

Be It Further Resolved, that this Conference urge upon the 
legislatures of those states which have not already done so, to pass 
without delay state-wide tick eradication laws, and that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, if necessary as a war measure, exer- 
cise the power vested in the Secretary of Agriculture of the United 
States by act of Congress to facilitate the complete eradication of 
the Texas fever cattle tick within one year. 

Be It Further Resolved, that a copy of this resolution be for- 
warded to the President of the United States, the Congress of the 
United States, the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States, 
and the Governors of the states of Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, with the urgent request 
that these resolutions be given most serious consideration. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 233 



Resolved, by the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South rep- 
resenting Eastern Texas, Arkansas, Southern Missouri, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Western Georgia and Western Florida, in con- 
vention assembled at New Orleans, La., April 11th, 12th and 13th, 
1917, that : 

Whereas, it is of vital importance to the American people 
that they be assured of an adequate supply of food products and 
of raw materials to meet the growing population and our expand- 
ing industries ; and, 

Whereas_, the public domain of the United States adaptable 
to present day remunerative economic use is substantially exhausted 
or shortly will be ; and, 

Whereas, the vast areas resulting from timber operations in 
the states above mentioned because of their proximity to our great '(^forganiza- 
consuming centers, and to our export ports, are worthy of imme- ^/^^ Commit- 
diate serious attention with respect to a present beneficial use, and tee 
ultimate settlement and development; and. 

Whereas, practically all efforts at so-called colonization have 
in large measure been more or less unsuccessful and not lasting and 
permanent, and because of their too intensely commercial aspect 
have largely resulted in a loss of public confidence, and have often 
brought the promoters into national disrepute ; and, 

Whereas, the problem is one of practically national impor- 
tance and should command the assistance, support and the best 
thought of all agencies ; now, 

Therefore, Be It Resolved, that the chair be and is hereby in- 
structed to appoint a committee to consist of ten members who are 
subscribers to the Southern Pine Association, of which the chair- 
man hereof shall be one, which committee may associate with them- 
selves, if their judgment so warrants, representatives of any other 
agencies interested in the development of the South, and which 
committee shall as soon as practicable provide for an organization 
and the financing thereof, together with a concrete plan of operation 
of such organization, the same to be known and designated as the 
Southern Cut-Over Land Association. 

Be It Further Resolved, that said committee be empowered to 
either incorporate said association or organize the same as a volun- Plan of 
tary organization, and to provide for its independent existence, or Organization 
to effect mergers with other and similar movements, as their best Stiggested 
judgment may dictate ; and. 



234 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Federal 
Officials 
Thanked for 
Co-operation 



Be It Further Resolved, that the owners of the idle, unused and 
unproductive lands in the states mentioned are urged to support the 
association hereinbefore provided for, to the extent of a levy not to 
exceed one cent per acre per year, for such period of time as it shall 
be determined shall comprise a period necessary to effect compre- 
hensive development ; and, 

Be It Further Resolved, that such land owners in the area desig- 
nated are urged to immediately adopt, wherever practicable and feas- 
ible, some form of live stock industry, not only as a part of the 
general plan of development, but also in response to the nation's 
need in view of the present national crisis ; and, 

Be It Further Resolved, that said committee in working out a 
concrete plan shall take into consideration cattle tick eradication, 
water control, standardization of land sales, legislation with respect 
to land titles, land classification, and in particular a campaign of 
general publicity, and such other activities as may be deemed proper 
and conducive to the successful operation of such association. 

Be It Further Resolved, that inasmuch as many acres of this 
area are better adapted for forest growth than for agricultural crops, 
that the association shall undertake to further and promote the de- 
velopment of approved forestry methods, looking toward reforesta- 
tion of such areas, for the benefit of future generations, and where 
practicable to combine such reforestation methods with live stock 
development. 

Be It Further Resolved, that a rising vote of thanks be ten- 
dered all officials and representatives of the Federal Government 
participating in the program and in the discussion at the Confer- 
nece; also to all representatives of state agricultural and other in- 
stitutions participating in the program and the discussions at the 
Conference ; also to the press of the entire country for its co-opera- 
tion in disseminating news of the Conference ; also to the railroads 
for their co-operation, in naming reduced round trip railroad fares, 
and to the representatives thereof present and participating in the 
discussion ; and to all others not specifically enumerated herein who 
have lent their advice and aid to the Conference in accomplishing 
the constructive work toward which the Conference is aiming. 



Resolved, by the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South rep- 
resenting Eastern Texas, Arkansas, Southern Missouri, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama, Western Georgia and Western Florida, in con- 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



235 



vention assembled at New Orleans, La., April 11th, 12th and 13th, 

1917, that: 

Whereas, ready markets for live stock produced on cut-over 

pine lands of the South are as essential as the production thereof; 

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved, that this convention welcomes n, . 

1 r TVT • o ^ . , . Morris and 

the advent of Morns & Company with their New Orleans packing Company 

house as a distinct encouragement to a present beneficial use of cut- Welcomed to 

over pine lands for the raising of cattle. ' A^^'^ Orleans 



Resolved, by the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South rep- 
resenting Eastern Texas, Arkansas, Southern Missouri, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Alabama. Western Georgia and Western Florida, in con- 
vention assembled at New Orleans, La., April 11th, 12th and 13th, 
1917, that : 

Whereas, it is necessary for the National Government to raise 
a very large amount of revenue to meet the extraordinary expense 
of war; and, 

Whereas, it is estimated that there are kept in the United 
States about 25,000,000 dogs, which are not only a luxury, and 
therefore properly subject to taxation, but which are also a cause 
of much damage to all kinds of live stock ; 

Therefore Be It Resolved, That we urge upon the Congress federal Dog 
of the United States to enact a law placing a per capita tax of $1.00 Tax Recom- 
on all dogs as a wise financial and economic measure; and mended 

Resolved Further, That a copy of these resolutions be trans- 
mitted to our Representatives and Senators in the Congress with 
the request that they take prompt action to enact a law levying a 
Federal Tax on all dogs. 



As men, proud of the fact that we are citizens of the United 
States of America, realizing as we do that our country is about to Lumbermen 
be called upon to meet heretofore unheard of demands, fully imbued Pledge Hold- 
with the spirit of patriotism and a desire to co-operate to the fullest ^^9s for Use 
extent with our President in whom we have devoted confidence ; be ^^ Nation 
it therefore 

Resolved, That we, the representative owners of the vast area 
of Southern cut-over lands, do hereby pledge to our President these 
holdings, that he in his wisdom may direct their use for the benefit, 
the betterment and the furtherance of humanity in accordance with 
his plans, in all of which we are in hearty accord. 



236 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



Senator Ransdell Sends Greet- 
ings fo Conference 

Washington, D. C, April 11, 1917. 
Cut-Over Land Conference of the South, 
New Orleans, La. 

I deeply regret that imperative official business prevents me 
from attending the Cut-Over Land Conference of the South in 
your city today. The cut-over pine lands of the South consti- 
tute a vast domain susceptible of wonderful potentialities in ag- 
riculture and forestry, which should call for our very best efforts 
in constructive statesmanship. 

I hope the Conference will form a permanent organization 
to handle these lands in a big way in connection with our various 
state officials and commercial bodies in our principal Southern 
cities. 

We must demonstrate honestly and on a large scale for what 
purposes these lands are best adapted, whether reforestation 
with quick growing trees, or agriculture in its many forms, es- 
pecially live stock. 

Then we must invite immigration and settlement by honest 
advertising. We must tell the whole truth about our lands, and 
devise plans to protect prospective settlers from real estate 
sharks. 

There is so much merit in these lands that we are bound to 
have great success in disposing of them if these methods are fol- 
lowed. 

I pledge my loyal support to the good cause in every way 
possible. 

(Signed) Jos. E. Ransdell. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 237 

List o/Attendance Cut-Over 

Land Conference of 

the South 

NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

ALEXANDER, M. L Chairman, Louisiana State Con- 
servation Commission New Orleans, La. 

Allen, William, Mgr C. & T. Bureau N. O. Assn. of 

Commerce New Orleans, La. 

Aiken, Gayle, Jr Chambers Agency Inc New Orleans, La. 

Alexander, J. W Insurance & Farming Alexandria, La. 

Agassis, G New Orleans, La. 

Ayres, Walter S., Ind. Com. . .N. O. G. N Ry Chicago, 111. 

Alberts, Ernst Washley Farm & Dev. Co. . . .New Orleans, La. 

BEHRMAN, MARTIN, Mayor . New Orleans, La. 

Bruguieres, Jules M W. Palm Beach, Fla. 

Beston, D. P Atty. at Law Mobile, Ala. 

BoNDURANT, J. R Agriculture & Oil El Paso, Tex. 

Brumfield, O. N., Mgr Illinois Cent. R. R. Co Jackson, Miss. 

BiGELOw, A. C, Pres Phila. Wool & Textile Assn. . .Philadelphia, Pa. 

Bateman, J. B., Jr., S. A Great Southern Lbr. Co New Orleans, La. 

Brooks, L. H., Supervisor Railroad New Orleans, La. 

Bollinger, M. S., Vice-Pres S. H. Bolinger Lbr. Co Shreveport, La. 

Bridgewater, S., Gen. Mgr. . . .Trinity County Lbr. Co Groveton, Tex. 

Bloomer, P. A., Gen. Mgr Louisiana L. L. Lbr. Co Fisher, La. 

Bolinger, S. H., Treas S. H. Bolinger Lbr. Co Shreveport, La. 

Bruce, Geo. S., Im. Agt International & G. N. Ry Houston, Tex. 

Bonner, J. S., Pres Bonner Lumber Co Houston, Tex. 

Byers, W. C, Agri. Agt New York Central Lines Chicago, 111. 

Bronson, J. W., S. Rep Kalamazoo Silo Co Thibodaux, La. 

Balis, W. H Pig Club Agent La Baton Rouge, La. 

Beckner, S., Pres Bryceland Lbr. Co ( gryceland. La and 

1_ rt. lowson, Okla. 

Bolton, H., H., Im. Agt Gulf, Mobile & Newton R. R. .Mobile, Ala. 

Bryant, E. S., For. Insp U. S. Forest Service Washington, D. C. 

Brown, M. H., In. & Im. Agt. . .Southern Railway New Orleans, La. 

Brown, E. W., Auditor Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Brady, T., Jr., Atty Butterfield Lbr. Co Brookhaven, Miss. 

Barthel, R., Exporter Tropical Trading Co New Orleans, La. 

Branar, Will The Trade Index New Orleans, La. 

Brenan, T. E Insurance Business New Orleans, La. 

Boyle, C. B Salesman New Orleans, La. 

Brough, Chas. H Governor Little Rock, Ark. 

Black, Harry A Washly Farm & Dev. Co New Orleans, La. 

BiLLiNGSBY, F. N Civil Engineer New Orleans, La. 



238 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

BiEGEL, Geo. H Real Estate & Land Dealer. . . .New Orleans, La. 

Bowling, N., Com. Mer Commission Merchant New Orleans, La. 

BiERY, Wm., Gen. Mgr Pine Stump Product Co Covington, La. 

Blakeslee, H. E., D. G Mississippi Cent. Expo Gulfport, Miss. 

Boyle, L. C Attorney at Law Kansas City, Mo. 

Bryant, R. C, Prof, of L'bring. .Yale University New Haven, Conn. 

Booker, Roy, Staff Cor Manufacturers' Record Baltimore, Md. 

CLAIR, J. C, Gen. Dev. Agt. .Illinois Central R. R Chicago, 111. 

Chappius, E. L "Alluvial" Lands New Orleans, La. 

Cern, Harry G., Secy Thompson & Tucker Lbr. Co. .Houston, Tex. 

Courtney, G. A., Vice-Pres Southwest La. Farm & Mlg. Co. Lake Charles, La. 

Carpenter, Robt., Mgr Chicago Belt Mfg. Co New Orleans, La. 

Clarkson, J. W., L. Agt La. Central Lbr. Co Clarks, La. 

Clayton, W. D La. State Museum New Orleans, La. 

Chapman, H. H., Dir American Forestry Assn New Haven, Conn. 

Clark, G. S., V.-P. & G. M. . . .Tremont Lbr. Co Winnfield, La. . 

Camp, H. A Lumber Mfr Hattiesburg, Miss. 

Chapman, B. F., Ch. Clk Texas State Dept. of Agr Austin, Tex. 

Conover, J. E School Book Rep Little Rock, Ark. 

Clappins, E. L., Jr Real Estate New Orleans, La. 

Coles, R. N Com. Nursery Co Winchester, Tenn. 

Cook, Sherman Real Estate Alexandria, La. 

Caranch, John W New Orleans, La. 

Coston, J. T., Lawyer Osceola, Ark. 

Cotton, T. M., Cont New Orleans, La. 

Cotton, J. E Dept. of Agr Covington, La. 

Cuculler, Hy., Mgr Matthews Gravity Carriers. . . .New Orleans, La. 

CuLLOM, E. T Lumber Mfr Springfield, La. 

Curtis, D. R., Sou. Repr Dixie Portland Cement Co Chattanooga, Tenn 

DENECHAUD, J. F., Secy . . .Immigration Dept. of La New Orleans, La. 

Dalrymple, W. H L. S. U Baton Rouge, La. 

DeGrange, Jos. H., Secy Assn. of Commerce New Orleans, La. 

DowNMAN, R. H., Pres Southern Cyp. Mfrs. Assn New Orleans, La. 

Doyle, Sarsfield Fla. Farms & Homes Inc New York City. 

Dunham, F. V., Mgr Pav. Dept. Sou. Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Davis, T. B., Pres Tallahola Lbr. Co Hammond, La. 

DoDSON, W. R., Dean Agri. College of La Baton Rouge, La. 

Derbes, Edw. J Stauffer-Eshleman & Co New Orleans, La. 

Dennee, John S Field Statistician Bureau of 

Crop Estimates New Orleans, La. 

Dixon, A. L., Mgr Gulf Motor Truck Co New Orleans, La. 

DiNKiNS, L. N., Pres Interstate Trust & B. Co New Orleans. La. 

ENOCHS, F. B Farming Lumberman & R. R . . Fernwood, Miss. 

Elfert, M. T Timber & Lands New Orleans, La. 

EiCHLiNG, C. W Nurseryman New Orleans, La. 

Emerson, F. V La. State University Baton Rouge, La. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 239 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

Erichson, L. F Lands New Orleans, La. 

Ebensberger, H Dixie Nursery Co Dubberly, La. 

Evans, J. A., Asst. Chief Extension Wn. Sou. U. S. N. G. .Washington, D. C. 

EisEMAN, Mayer Real Estate New Orleans, La. 

Enderle, Edward Lands & Timber New Orleans, La. 

FARLEY, F. W U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Jackson, Miss. 

Fowler, R. B., Gen. Mgr Tremont & Gulf Rv Winnfield, La. 

Ferris, E. B Ex. Stat. Director McNeill, Miss. 

Ferry, W. J., Pres .Ferry-Hanly Adver. Agcy Kansas City, Mo. 

Foster, D. M Real Estate Lake Charles, La. 

Fullerton, R. VV Gulf Lbr. Co E. St. Louis, 111. 

Folse, L. J., Jr., Ex. Im. Agt. . .Southern Pacific S. S. Co New Orleans, La. 

Fyler, G. H., Com. Agt Pennsylvania R. R New Orleans, La. 

Forchheimer, H., Pres Washley Farm & Dev. Co Lorraine, La. 

Foster, J. H State Forester of Texas College Station, Tex. 

Fay, Chas. S., T. M Southern Pacific Lines New Orleans, La. 

Fox, John A Gulf Coast Dev. League Mobile, Ala. 

Flynn, J. W., Gen. Mgr Cotton State Lumber Co Meehan Jet., Miss. 

Ford, E., T. M G. L. & N. Ry Groveton, Tex. 

Fair, John R., Prof Ga. State Col. of Agri Athens, Ga. 

Fried laender, V. P Climax Lbr. Co St! Landry, La. 

GREEN, CHAS., Vice-Pres Eastman-Gardiner & Co Laurel, Miss. 

GiLMORE, G. E Shreveport Cham, of Com Shreveport, La. 

Gilbert, L. D Southern Pine Lbr. Co Texarkana, Tex. 

Gerson, H. S., Pres Home Builders Realty Co New Orleans, La. 

Glynn, J. W., Land Agt Mississippi Lbr. Co Quitman, Miss. 

Green, A. E., Vice-Pres Columbus Lbr. Co Columbus, Miss. 

Glynn H. C Quitman, Miss. 

Gray, Mat., Correspondent American Lumberman New Orleans, La. 

Griffing, W. D., Pres CM. Griffing & Co Macclenny, Fla. 

Guild, W. E., Treas. & G. M. . .Finkbine Lbr. Co Wiggins, Miss. 

Gilmore, a. B., Mgr.-Ed Modern Farming New Orleans, La. 

Geagen, J. H., Treas Tremont Lbr. Co Winnfield, La. 

Gifford, F. C, Secy Natl. Assn. of Box Mfrs Chicago, 111. 

Gilmer, Thos. W., Mgr Bay Minette Land Co Bay Minette, Ala. 

Garic, H. L Assn. of Commerce New Orleans, La. 

Gilbert, Harvey W., Mgr Nona Mills Co Beaumont, Tex. 

Gandy, J. W New Orleans, La. 

Gipson, E. T., C. G. a Dept. Louisiana & Mississippi . . New Orleans, La. 

GoREAU, W Go Ro Mfg. Co New Orleans, La. 

Gheen, Russell T., Mgr. Trade 

Extension Department Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Gillispi, J. O Atty. at Law Gulfport, Miss. 

HULL, N. P., Pres National Dairy Union Lansing, Mich. 

Howell, Chas. F Physician Kinder, La. 

Henington, L Atty. at Law Hattiesburg, Miss. 

Haynen, Wm. J., Gen. Mgr J. J. Newman Lbr. Co Hattiesburg, Miss. 



240 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

HiNTON, R. W., Pres Hinton Bros. Lbr. Co Lumberton, Miss. 

Hallowell, R. M., Pres Industrial Lbr. Co Elizabeth, La. 

Helm, H. B., Vice-Pres La. Ry. & Nav. Co Shreveport, La. 

Hopkins, S. G., D. P. A Kansas City So. Ry. Co Texarkana, Tex. 

Hamilton, Geo. C Freeman-Smith Lbr. Co Millville, Ark. 

Heflin, W. T Sheriff Winn Parish Winnfield, La. 

Harris, L. L., Reclamation Beaumont, Tex. 

Harcop, B. T., Gen. Supt Tremont Lbr. Co Winnfield, La. 

Homeyer, H. C Land Dept., Hibernia Bk New Orleans, La. 

Henderson, W. L., 

In. & Im. Agt Sou. Ry. System Dev. Ser Mobile, Ala. 

HuEBER, P. A Farmer Mobile, Ala. 

Heilbron, Louis, Rep Texarkana Chamber of Com. . .Texarkana, Ark. 

Hamilton, F. P Mississippi Planter New Orleans, La. 

Herriott, J. W Real Estate Chicago, 111. 

HoENAN, A. S., Mgr Pelican Box Factory New Orleans, La. 

Hero, Gus A., Pres Jefferson Plaquemine D. D. . . .New Orleans, La. 

HouLTON, W. L Houlton Lbr. Co Houltonville, La-. 

Houlton, C. H Houlton Lbr. Co Houltonville, La. 

Harper, G. B., A. G. D. A. . . . .1. C. R. R Memphis, Tenn. 

Hewes, H. B., V. P. & Treas Jeanerette Lbr. & Shgl. Co. . . Jeanerette, La. 

JAHNCKE, ERNEST LEE, 

Pres New Orleans Assn. Commerce . . New Orleans, La. 

Jones, J. E., Chief Insp Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Johnson, J. J., Supt Cut-Over Land Dept., Great 

Sou. Lbr. Co Bogalusa, La. 

Jansen, Chas Postmaster & Gen. Ins. Agt . . .New Orleans,' La. 

JuDD, Edward S Chicago, 111. 

Jones, W. H Dierks Lbr. & Coal Co Kansas City, Mo. 

Johnson, L. W Wire & Iron Bureau New Orleans, La. 

Jewett, B. N., Mgr N. O. Nelson & Co New Orleans, La. 

Jennings, T. A., Pres Jennings Naval Stores Co Pensacola, Fla. 

Jackson, H. K Electric Lights Mobile, Ala. 

KING, L. G., Auditor Tremont Lbr. Co Winnfield, La. 

Kelser, R. J., Bus. Mgr Trade Index New Orleans, La. 

Klare, G. W Salesman, Reclaimed Land. . . .New Orleans, La. 

Kerngan, J. E Hammond, La. 

LEACH, N. M., G. T. Mgr Texas & Pacific Ry New Orleans, La. 

LovEjoY, W. C, Receiver N. O. Netherlands Co New Orleans, La. 

Lee, A. J., S. p. a Southern Ry New Orleans, La. 

Lanaux, a. a Engineer New Orleans, La. 

Law, G. W., Secy.-Mgr Lock-Moore Co., Ltd Westlake, La. 

LaCour, O Planter New Orleans, La. 

Livingston, Carl D University of Wisconsin Madison, Wis. 

Lee, S. p., Pres Lee Lbr. Co Alexandria, La. 

Leeymard, E. p., Im. & Agr. 

Agt T. & P. R . R New Orleans, La. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 241 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

Lawler, Jno., a. M. M Rapids Lbr. Co Woodworth, La. 

Learntt, R. a., Vice-Pres Southern Land &, Tipiber Co.. .Lidianapolis, Ind. 

Letts, Chas., Box Supt Eastman-Gardiner Lbr. Co. . . .Laurel, Miss. 

Lloyd, E. R Director Miss. Expt. Station. . .Agricultural College, 

Miss. 

Ledoux, H. L, Secy Acme Home Assn New Orleans, La. 

Lichtenstein, L M., Del N. O. Assn. of Commerce New Orleans, La. 

LoRANGER, H. R., Vice-Pres Genesee Lbr. Co Genesee, La. 

LaGrone, J. M., Mgr La. Creosoting Co Winnfield, La. 

LiGHTON, W. R Fayetteville, Ark. 

MARSHALL, F. R., 

Animal Husbandry Bureau Animal Industry Washington, D. C. 

Mayo, H. M., Mgr. Ind. Dept. . Southern Pacific Houston, Tex. 

Marbut, C. F U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Washington, D. C. 

McLauchlan, Asso. Editor Lumber Trade Journal New Orleans, La. 

Martin, W. A., Gen. Mgr American Lbr. Co Merry ville, La. 

Moreton, S. E Lumber Mfr Brookhaven, Miss. 

McKoY, Edwin A Lands New Orleans, La. 

Miles, L. T Salman Brick & L. Co Slidell, La. 

Moore, A. G. T., Asst. Secy. . . .Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Miller, R. G., Agr. Editor New Orleans Item New Orleans, La. 

Marshall, E. C. D., G. F. A. . L. R. & N. Co Shreveport, La. 

Mansfield, C. J., Vice-Pres. . . .Southern Lbr. Co Warren, Ark. 

Morse, Stanley F., Con. Agr. 

Ex New Orleans, La. 

Morse, R. F., Gen. Mgr Ludington Lbr. Co Ludington, La. 

Means, Guy R., Agr. Rep Dupont Powder Co Jackson, Miss. 

Morgan, Edw., Com. Ft. Agt. . .Baltimore & Ohio R. R New Orleans, La. 

McGehee, F. C, Pres Pine Bluff Lbr. Co Pine Bluff, Ark. 

Murphy, Jas. R., Pres Fla. Farms & Houses, Inc Palatka, Fla. 

McDonnell, L. T., Sou. & S. 

Mgr Bi-Lateral Fire Hose Co New Orleans, La. 

McMahan, M. J., T. M N. O. G. N. R. R. Co New Orleans, La. 

McCroary, S. H., Asst. Chief. . .U. S. Dept. of Agr Washington, D. C. 

Morrison, W. W Market Writer New Orleans, La. 

Murray, Kemball, Editor Real Estate Item New Orleans, La. 

McIntyre, W. G Forage Feeding New Orleans, La. 

McCreary, E. R Mercantile & Saw Milling Bush, La. 

Miller, Chas., Traf. Mgr N. O. N. & N. Ry Hammond, La. 

Mingy, S. S., Asst. Mgr Miss. Farms Co : Wiggins, Miss. 

NESOM, G. E., Supt Live Stock Ex. Service Baton Rouge, La. 

Nalty, W. H., V.-P. & Mgr Hammond Lbr. Co Hammond, La. 

Nichols, E. A Wholesale Land Dealer New Orleans, La. 

OTIS, J. S., Secy H. Weston Lbr. Co Logtown, Miss. 

PIPER, C. v., Agrostologist, . . .U. S. Dept. of Agr Washington, D. C. 

Phillips, Henry Planter & Land Owner Natchez, Miss., and 

Ottumwa, Iowa. 



242 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

Parker, Walter Assn. of Commerce New Orleans, La. 

Perkins, W. R ..Forage Corp. Agent Baton Rouge, La. 

Palmer, L., Ex. Editor. '. Lumber Trade Journal New Orleans, La. 

PuLLEN, King H., Dir. of News 

Service Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Pedeaux, Ed. H., Mgr. Agr. 

Dept Stauffer-Eshleman & Co New Orleans, La. 

Pipkin, L. B., Secy Nona Mills Co Beaumont, Tex. 

Perrin, L. E., Dist. Agt U. S. Demonstration St. Landry, La. 

Putman, L. R., Adv. Mgr Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Pullen, Wm. H Insurance Jackson, Miss. 

Pruden, Hy. B Pine Stump Product Co Covington, La. 

Preston, E. V., Land Com Fernwood Lbr. Co Fernwood, Miss. 

Power, C. W Furniture Retailer New Orleans, La. 

Prescott, C. C, Agri. Agt Development Service Chattanooga, Tenn. 

Pettibone, F. W Jordan River Lbr. Co Kiln, Miss. 

QUERBES, ANDREW Chamber of Commerce Shreveport, La. 

Querens, F., Jr Accountant New Orleans, La. 

ROMMEL, GEO. M., Chief Ani- 
mal Husbandry Div U. S. Bureau of Animal Ind . . . Washington, D. C. 

Rennyson, lb Real Estate New Orleans, La. 

Rhodes, J. E., Secy .-Mgr Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Rolf, A. F Dept. of Agriculture Baton Rouge, La. 

Reuter, Chris Vegetables and Seeds New Orleans, La. 

Riley, J. N., Sales Agt Atlas Powder Co New Orleans, La. 

Redhead, John A., Actg. State 

Agt U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Baton Rouge, La. 

Richardson, E. S La. State University Baton Rouge, La. 

Rountree, L. M Farmer La Branch, La. 

Reimers, F. W., Gen. Mgr Natalbany Lbr. Co Hammond, La. 

Root, L. Carroll N. O. Assn. of Commerce New Orleans, La. 

Rad WAY, C. W., Dairy Specialist. Live Stock Exten. Service Baton Rouge, La. 

Ray, J. B Clerk New Orleans, La. 

RiGGS, Whit Richard & Riggs Covington, La. 

Ross, W. I., Farm Supt Industrial Lbr. Co Elizabeth, La. 

Regal, H. W., S. A L. R. & N. Co New Orleans, La. 

Runte, E. O D. P. A New Orleans, La. 

Ranson, John I., Vice-Pres Naval Stores Abita Springs, La. 

SESSOMS, ALEX. K., Pres Ga. Land Owners' Assn Cogdell, Ga. 

Stange, Chas. F New Orleans, La. 

Sheppard, C. C, Gen. Mgr Forest Lbr. Co Oakdale, La. 

Slagle, C. E., Gen. Mgr Central Lbr. Co Clarks, La. 

Saupe, L. E., Im. Agt St. Louis S. W. Ry St. Louis, Mo. 

Salmar, Clarke New Orleans Item New Orleans, La. 

Serferth, Herman J Times Picayune New Orleans, La. 

Sanford, F. L Yellow Pine Saw Mill Zona, La. 

Speh, C. F., Secy Turp. & Rosin Prod. Assn New Orleans, La. 



The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 243 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

Simmons, H., Official Reporter New Orleans, La. 

SiMiNs, Geo. A., Publicity New Orleans, La. 

Stonebraker, F. E., Secy Sou. Alluvial Land Assn Memphis, Tenn. 

Staples, C. H., Dairy Spec La. State University Baton Rouge, La. 

Sweet, J. A Sessoms Land & Sec. Co Cogdell, Ga. ' 

Smith, G. K., Mgr Simonds Mfg. Co New Orleans, La. 

Stevens, F. W., Mgr Bagdad Land & Lbr. Co Bagdad, Fla. 

Stern, Percival, Pres Interstate Electrical Co New Orleans, La. 

Smith, T. F., Land Mgr Ed. Hines Lumber Co Poplarville, Miss. 

Shelton, T. J., Traffic Mgr A. & L. M. Ry Monroe, La. 

Stier, E. v., Newspaper Rep. . .The Daily States New Orleans, La. 

ScHNETZER, J., Photographer New Orleans, La. 

Sherman, C. W., Dist. Mgr Aetna Explosives Co New Orleans, La. 

ScHMOBL, Paul Chemical Engineer Mobile, Ala. ' 

Swift, G. R., Pres Swift Lbr. Co Knoxo,'Miss. 

Sowers, W. J., Secy.-Mgr Major-Sowers Lbr. Co Epley, Miss. 

Shilstone, H. M., Rep N. O. Assn. of Com New Orleans, La. 

Stoddard, W. L., Priv. Sec Mr. Vrooman Washington, D. C. 

Scott, J. H., Gen. Mgr Southern Mineral & Land Imp. 

Co Winnfield, La. 

Smith, E. L, Insp. in Charge 

Tick Erad. in La U. S. Bureau An. Industry. . . .Baton Rouge, La. 

See, J. G., Teacher Agrl. College L. S. U Baton Rouge^ La. 

Schneidau, p. Sefton Real Estate New Orleans La 

Smith, F. L., Sales Mgr Natalbany Lbr. Co Hammond, La. 

Staples, A. L Banker Mobile, Ala. 

Stern, Geo. M Broker New Orleans, La. 

TALLMAN, CLAY, Com Gen. Land Office Washington, D. C. 

TowNSEND, G. A., S. M Great Southern Lbr. Co Bogalusa, La. 

Thompson, J. Lewis, Pres Thompson Bros. Lbr. Co Houston,' Tex 

TuxwoRTH, F. E., Supt Pickering Land & Tbr. Co Cravens,' La. 

Trieschmann, a Crossett Lbr. Co Crossett' Ark 

TiEBOUT, G. L Hort. La. Experiment Sta Baton Rouge La 

Tinsley, J. D., Ag. Dem Gulf Colorado & St. Fe Ry Pineland Tex 

Thames, T. R., Ld. Agt Natalbany Lbr. Co Hammond, La. 

Tracy, S. M., Agron U. S. Dept. Agr. Forage Crop, 

Investigation Biloxi, Miss. 

Taylor, H. W., M. D., Secy. . . .Alaflamiss Mobile Ala 

ToBiE, C. W., Mgr Wm. J. Burns Detective Agcy. .New Orleans, La 

Tucker, Wm Farmer Tucker, La 

Thomas, A. J., Capt Supt. of Transportation New Orleans La 

Temerton, R. W., Asst. Secy. . .Gulf Lumber Co E St Louis 'ill 

TuLL, J. H., Agri. Agent K. C. S. Ry Mena, Ark. ' 

Thatcher, N. E Times-Picayune New Orleans, La. 

UCKER, CLEMENT S., Vice- 

^/'■^' Sou. Settlement & Dev. Org. . .Baltimore, A'ld 

Underwood, W. D m o i 

New Orleans, La. 



244 The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 



NAME REPRESENTING ADDRESS 

Uber, J. E Agricultural Engr New Orleans, La. 

Upton, E. C Prihter New Orleans, La. 

VROOMAN, CARL Asst. Secy, of Agriculture Washington, D. C. 

Van Pelt, A. W., Asso. Editor. .Gulf States Farmer New Orleans, La. 

WILSON, H. D Com. of Agr. & Immigration. . .Baton Rouge, La. 

White, R. M Contractor New Orleans, La. 

Weeks, G. C Land Owner Hammond, La. 

White, H. L., Pres J. J. White Lbr. Co Columbia, Miss. 

Watson, D. L., Phy. & Far Cusach Bldg New Orleans, La. 

WooLSEY, Walter E Farmer & Fruit Raiser Rochester, N. Y. 

WoMACK, Mark, Agriculturalist .Teacher Verda, La. 

Weston, J. H H. Weston Lbr. Co Logtown, Miss. 

WooLMAN, C. E., Dist. Agt Farm Demonstration Work. . . .Baton Rouge, La. 

Whittington, W. W., Jr., Secy .Enterprise Lbr. Co Alexandria, La. 

Weigand, F., a. M Mercurio Pub. Co New Orleans, La. 

Wild, E. O., Editor Gulf States Farmer New Orleans, La. 

Welty, D. C, Comr. of Agr. . . .Missouri Pacific Ry St. Louis, Mo. 

Walden, C. E., Vice-Pres Sabine Tram Co Beaumont, Tex. 

Williams, H. S., Dir. Pub Mississippi Cent. Expo Gulfport, Miss. 

Weaver, S. P Weaver Bros Shreveport, La. 

WoMACK, F. J., Mgr Foster Lbr. Co Houston, Tex. 

Wright, W. C Lumber Trade Journal New Orleans, La. 

Watson, Geo. E., Secy Sou. Cyp. Mfrs. Asso New Orlearts, La. 

West, W. T New Orleans, La. 

Wefel, H. H., Jr Land Dealer Mobile, Ala. 

Wright, Tumer, Field Agent. . .U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Baton Rouge, La. 

WiLLANGHLY, Chas. D., Cashicr .First National Bank Mobile, Ala. 

Wilkinson, L. W., D. Agt Gretna, La. 

YOUNG, H. M., Treas Southern Pine Assn New Orleans, La. 

Young, Sam'l Civil Engineer New Orleans, La. 



